So with miracles dead, I really think we need to be moving towards a hybrid RG and RUG build. The necessity of tolaria west is much lower now that counterbalance lock isn't around, and we need to be faster to keep up with all the combo decks running around. I'm at the point that my list is only a few cards off of the RG lists that were splashing EE. Anyone else feel the same? Also, on the port vs GQ issue, I was really high on 4x gq for a while, but now that combo is hanging out again we need access to port. That being said, GQ is still REALLY good in the fair matchups that are not DnT or UR delver, and having 6+ targeted LD effects feels really good in those types of matchups.
I don't wanna give up the most interesting deck in legacy (thats what I think about RUG Lands) by switching more and more to a RG build or like this. If I try to be as fast as all the others, it would mean, I try to combo as fast as possible. And that would mean, it will work like all the other decks I built in the last 23 years... I want that special feeling beeing able to have an answer to everything or to tutor for it... I never want to cut Tolaria West, Academy Ruins or Intuition. TW is still the best uncounterable tutor in this deck finding every land and 0 or x artifact (and can do this every turn if I like).Yes it is slow and expensive, but can't we find a solution which feels like RUG Lands? I see the meta is switching, but it worked before with Chasm, Ports etc and I want to try to play it as good old RUG as long as I can. Maybe putting a CotV main or so to have an answer G1.
Noctem89: Your deck has 56 cards or am I counting wrong?
Hey everyone. Long time fan of Lands, been playing RG for some time on paper; also big fan of the thread, but this is my first post to it.
Recently I purchased the deck on MTGO, saved up several cards for some time and finally put it together (seems like this is a common theme on the thread). Are there other MTGO players here?
I've only been playing MTGO for about two weeks, but it seems with the banning of Top there has been a huge increase of combo decks, or I'm getting really unlucky. I've made some tweaks and came up with something that's a bit of a hybrid between Lands and Aggro Loam that has been doing better. I'm looking for feedback, or people to tell me I'm crazy. It looks like Noctem89 ran into a similar issue, and is going down a similar path but with RUG rather than RG.
I think half of the reason that I'm doing better with this deck is the surprise factor. Ex. I played against TES and Gambled for Thalia on T2, kept it, and used Deathrite to boost me the mana to play it. They just conceded. Then in G2 they made 14 goblins on T1 and I crop rotated for Tabernacle on my turn.
@Noctem89 - It looks like you're missing 4x Life from the Loam , this is why you're deck is short.
yea, I was missing loams and the academy ruins (I run 61 main). Seems pretty important. As for tolaria west vs gamble, I agree that twest was/is still good at being a silver bullet tutor, but especially in metas where we need more speed, I feel like gamble just fills the slot better. The whole being able to answer everything thing is still defiantly doable with this version because of intuition fetching full locks rather than one piece, and ee recursion. Between those two things, RUG will always be able to answer the weirdo things that legacy can throw at you better than RG can. However, RG's plan for weird things is to jam a 20/20 and hope its good enough (which it is a lot of the time). The issues RG runs into is if decks and pilots are remotely prepared to fight a 20/20, it can't switch gears and grind like RUG can. Personally, I approach most matchups from a lock-them-out viewpoint rather than a combo viewpoint, which works better with this strategy. It is nice being able to switch mindsets game one and just jam our combo, thus a more hybrid build.
@xonnex
I like the maindeck thalia idea. Ive been using it in my sideboard for a while now, and its just the best. Most decks expect artifact hate, and board accordingly. Thalia ignores things like hurklys, and provides a clock, both of which are super relevant.
@Noctem89
Agreed, Thalia has been great so far. 1 main deck is really great with Gamble if you're in a bind. I've won a couple times now against storm because of Thalia beats. Now if they want to take care of the hate cards, they need both Massacre and Hurkyl's Recall.
How has the 3 fetch land been treating you? I feel that I need 5 when running 4 colors and I have Deathrite to help supplement as well. Has this been an issue for you? I might suggest doing -1 Ghost Quarter +1 fetch.
The biggest issue I find with Leyline is that it's just terrible if it's not in your opening hand. And sometimes mulling down to 4 to try again just doesn't feel right.
3 fetches has been fine. The deck can function off a single colored source for a while. There are hands that are slightly sketchy with no colored sources, but those get shipped back anyways because they usually lack interaction. I also tend to ghost quarter myself a lot with this deck, so I count GQ as a fetch.
I would not run leyline for that exact reason you mentioned. What decks do you want leyline against? Reanimator, maybe lands mirror? The card is powerful in those matchups, but you also need to combo off fast in those matchups so mulling low to find it usually just hampers your development too much. If its graveyard hate you want, I'd play a combination of surgical and nihil spellbomb. Also, I agree you need some tireless trackers in the board, as its insane vs decks that attack your loams postboard.
There are some good ideas arround, but I'm fighting with myself. I'm just not a fan of creatures in the Lands deck (the Trackers had some time to find the way in my SB). Also, I'm not a fan of an additional color, if there's no really good reason. And I try to avoid too many Enchantments (yes and Instants, Sorceries), because once they are in the grave, they stay. So the Vortex is good, but it has to be really good to find the way in...and the Lands deck should contain lands, if possible ;-) . I really have the feeling, we're going more and more to a Lands D&T hybrid :-(
Thanks for that
I try to put Crucible in the SB right now but putting a CotV in it's place. The feeling about Intuition is right (slow and lot of mana), but the card, IF it resolves is just still too strong for me.
Nether Void is great as you said, but besides it costs 4mana, it has the standard-problem: It's an Enchantment and not a 4-of. I would put crazy stuff like Chains of Mephistopheles in, if that wouldn't be (and have the space).
The reason it's worth looking at the hatebears again is that they help give you a clock against combo, which is gaining a lot more traction right now. I've really been liking the 1 Deathrite Shaman, it just does soo much. It helps you against Blood Moon decks, Burn by acting as a blocker and potential life gain, Reanimator, and Storm by draining cards from the graveyard. Nether Void as you pointed out, is simply too slow. And Hurkyl's Recall or Pulverize is brutal against our normal sideboard. Also Thalia has protection from Duress. I haven't tried Phyrexian Revoker but it seems too conditional, and Trinisphere is amazing, but also feels too slow in the current meta. You need something T2 at the latest, which is do-able, but less often with Trinisphere.
I'm not sold on Containment Priest yet, it feels too slow against Reanimator; which has just felt like a terrible matchup recently. In fact, I feel better going against Storm than Reanimator right now, which is why I'm trying Surgical Extraction. They don't fall for Crop Rotation these days :).
I also feel that if you're starting to cut Intuition because it's too slow, then RUG is just too slow right now.
I'm not that happy with my hybrid deck yet, but it has felt stronger than RG lands at this time. I't silly to say, but the banning of Top has felt like it hurt Lands more than it's helped. Things I'm considering are adding back more Rishadan Port, having 8 effect (or at least 7) rather than 6 does seem better, and going to 2 Tireless Tracker rather than 1 in the board OR having the 4th Dark Depths in the board to help race against combo and Burn.
I'm with you and at the same time, I don't.
So first, I assume everyone here wants a control version of Lands, not the combo version. But a control version is not really fast no matter what you play (mean you don't WIN fast). If you wanna have someting fast to win, do combolands, turbodepth or whatever. So fast here means fast locks, fast control... I like the RUG way, but we're tending and focusing in a RGWx direction for now or at least away from slow control... So let's see. Just thinking loud...
It's good to have a clock against combo. They cannot just wait to get more mana and come arround the sphere, they have to do it fast or remove Thalia... But with a Thalia alone, is the pressure really high enough? Is control-Lands really too slow if you just have a sphere or CotV out? Do you cut Tracker because you now have a Sphere on legs? If you do, what is the drawing engine besides loam?
It's good to have different types of hate(artifact and creature) so they have to find the correct way to get rid of them and cannot get rid of them all the same time. Thats the really good point.
But I can play an XX or 2 potentially faster than a 1w (with Ancient Tomb...) so I will gain a few turns against most of decks from T1 on.
You like to integrate Surgical Exreaction or whatever you need against reanimator or storm. OK. But with only 2 in the SB, you need to draw it... FAST.
I see maybe I really should put in more Gambles and maybe MAYBE get rid of Tolaria West to find what I want T1, it's not gambling for a wincon, it's gambling for hate/lock...right. Eg CoW for Wasteland lock. If I include white, I have to cut some blue anyway so TW cannot be played so well.
I still can keep my EEs and Intuition for later as long as I get my hate out soon(er).
Or is the whole EE-ruins combo just too slow at all? But what are the alternatives?
Keep 'em main and side all out to have a D&T deck G2 incl Sanctum Prelate?
So: Maybe* I try:
Tolaria West out (ouch)
Some blue out
Some white in
Gambles in
Keep CoW in
Keep one CotV in
Keep EE and Intuition in so far
1 Thalia SB
Just to see how it performs...
Semi final master again, top 4'ed another incredibly combo heavy meta. Sideboarded as such.
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Dark Depths
1 Forest
1 Glacial Chasm
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karakas
3 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Taiga
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Thespian's Stage
2 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Crop Rotation
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Exploration
1 Molten vortex
1 Manabond
3 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
4 Mox Diamond
3 Punishing Fire
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Krosan Grip
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Warping Wail
3 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Surgical Extraction
R1: BR reanimator 2-0
R2: TES 2-1
R3: DnT 2-0
R4: Mono B Reanimator 2-1
R5: ID
Top 8:
Quarters: Eldrazi 2-0
Semis: Same monoB as the Swiss 0-2
Why Warping Wail in the SB? Was it useful? - I think Warping Wail cause it counters Show and Tell, Reanimate, etc..
-->Good point for reanimate. Just thought the SurExtractions and Bog would be enough for that and a Red Elemental Blast would counter SnT and FoW as well and better.
Thorn instead of Sphere in SB?? - Thorn only taxes non-creature spells. I guess Sparki wants to be able to run them in the same matches as the Phyrexian Revoker. Wich would get taxed by Sphere but not by Thorn.
--> sure, but just because of those 2 let the opponent bring creatures without taxes
?
Red Elemental Blast is only usefull against decks that splash blue. While Warping Wail is also usefull against creature based decks since it also hits Dark Confidant, Thalia, and almost all creatures in the Elf combo matchup. Making it more relevant in other matchups in my opinion. Also, you can create a token wich you can sacrifce later for Thespian's Stage or as a blocker / slow "poke to death" clock.
You're so right.
Just another question: What to do against FoW(...) in general. Having a solution to SnT, reanimate(...) is great, but not if it gets countered. Or do you just poker, they have either a fast combo or a counter but not both?
I guess that when you play against a "fair" creature deck you aren't bringing in Thorn from the sideboard. Thorn would be brought in against Storm, Show and Tell, etc. Meaning you can disable Lion's Eye Diamond / Sneak Attack / Lotus Petal with Phyrexian Revoker while taxing their instants and sorceries with Thorn. Thorn only taxes non-creature spells. This means you aren't delaying yourself when you want to play your Phyrexian Revoker as soon as possible versus Storm / Show and Tell.
So right again. I knew the PN PR difference but was hoping I can stay with Spheres I bought instead of Thorn I don't have.
Great! So you didn't have problems without white or would the white splash have helped in any situation?
No Intuition or Tolaria West anymore... Did you miss them? Did the Gambles a good job? Would a 4th Gamble be something?
Why Warping Wail in the SB? Was it useful?
Thorn instead of Sphere in SB??
Did you miss the Trackers?
Manabond main... I think that is a really good idea now.
GQ still better than Ports?
How did you win most of the time? Was it more control or just a fast token?
Not missing Intuition or West right now. The deck feels very smooth being almost two colors now. I dont think a 4th gamble is worth it right now for me, I'm okay without it.
Warping Wail was a way for me to hedge against cards like Show and Tell, Reanimate, Natural Order and Infernal Tutor. It also came in handy killing things like DRS. It's super easy to cast since we have around 16-20 colorless producing lands. I even countered an Unmask in a matchup where I was holding a surgical. It felt nice. Not sure if they'll stay around, but we'll see.
Revoker is my choice of activated ability hate, especially since it provides a clock. You don't want to give combo decks time to just find answers. Also, cutting mana abilities is exactly what your deck aims to do, in terms of mana denial.
Thorn comes in a lot of matchups where revoker does too, and I was also playing trackers but had to cut them for this event because of the large amount of combo. For example, against ANT, I went T1: Crop Rotate for Ancient Tomb -> Thorn. T2, I cast revoker off tomb and wastelanded. I think the only creature based matchup you really want sphere instead of thorn is elves and the matchup is positive anyways, I feel.
Manabond main is a great gamble target when you're behind or just need to close the game out.
Unsure if GQ is better than ports, I haven't tested ports in a while, partially because my girlfriend has them in her D&T deck, but I think GQ is still great against the greedy BUG manabases and even decks like ANT. It just doesn't help as much against reanimator and S&S which are awful matchups anyways.
I lost in the finals of another small 15 man GPT on Sunday playing the same list. List feels pretty nice. I played:
R1: Turbo Depths 2-1
R2: Deathblade 2-1
R3: UR Delver 2-0
R4: ID
Top 4:
Semis: UR Delver 2-1
Finals: Infect 2-1
Funny enough, I lost to my friend piloting my own infect deck I lent out He was on the play G3, and let with T1 tropical island Glistener Elf. His hand had Daze, Invigorate, Bersek, Blossoming Defense. Cant beat that!
So RUG Lands blue component is just Academy Ruins plus EE now and the main difference to RG Lands. Well, did you even use the EE or EE lock or should/could we really move to another color?
Sure, it's not RUG and doesn't feel so much like Lands anymore, but could a switch (just thinking) to white creatures maybe with a Volrath Stronghold and a Cavern of Souls on 'Human' be another type of control-lands?
(again: I love RUG, even with just AR+EE)
Im thinking about removeing 1 Tropical Island. So keeping only 1 for Academy Ruins.
What do you put in for the Trop? Other Duals or other lands...?
Also trying to figure out if i can squeeze in a Raven's Crime somewhere mainboard against combo. Please share your thoughts if you please
I like them but never found the space and it may be too slow against some decks or unusable against reanimate... Maybe SB.
Another question! Im always having the dilemma "should i dredge...or draw?" Can you guys give me any tips on that?
Same problem here. Normally depending what you need. If the Exploration or hate is out, you can dredge because you could get everything else out of the grave. If you need to find something special fast and you only have a 1of, maybe draw (it or a Gamble/Rotation) is better.
I really like Sparki's sideboard. I would like to have something mainbord against combo wich is "elegant" enough to fit into the maindeck.
CotV
Good reasoning there! I'd like some form of card "filtering" or maybe even Tireless Tracker mainbord just to get some draw/topdeck manipulation in. Since i hate going to topdeck mode
Be careful: The one more card your opponent could draw because of HoG could be just the one he needs to complete his combo.
I want to slow down the opponent and not help him a little even if it helps me potentialy more.
I took 2nd place in a GPT yesterday. There were 35 people there, so we did 6 rounds then cut to top 8. I was playing the same deck I listed the day before yesterday where I went 5-0 online.
R1: Eldrazi 2-0
R2: Infect 2-1
R3: Grixis Delver 2-1
R4: BR Reanimator 2-0
R5: Grixis Delver 1-2 (should have ID, but I was silly and declined)
R6: ID
Top 8 (4th seed)
Quarter: BR Reanimator 2-0
Semi: RUG Delver 2-0
Final: Death and Taxes 0-2
First place would have given me two byes for GP Las Vegas, disappointed by losing to D&T, but the guy was good so he deserved it.
I missed having the 3rd Maze of Ith, and I really wanted a 2nd Molten Vortex. But, Ancient Tomb did soo much work yesterday, that I can't see myself taking it out. I might consider cutting the main deck Warping Wail. I didn't even draw it yesterday, but online it's won me games against reanimator, show and tell, and storm, so it's a difficult choice. Barbarian Ring also wouldn't have helped yesterday. The only time I needed it was against Sanctum Prelate, but I also didn't have a graveyard in G2, so it wouldn't have done anything.
Full Report
Going off memory for the most part. I kept track of who went first, life totals, and occasionally game state, but bare with me if something doesn't add up. I likely forgot something.
Match 1 - Eldrazi 2-0 - he wins the die roll so he plays first Game 1: He had an interesting build that used Serum Powder. He used it had one in each of his hands for the first 3 hands, so he removed 21 cards from his deck; I believe this is because he was playing Eternal Scourage. He got me to 2 life, and he was at 21 thanks to Grove. But I make the combo at the end of his turn, and attack bringing him down to 1 life. Then use grove to bring back punishing fire, and cast it for the win. Game 2: He plays Ancient Tomb then passes. I'm on a mana denial strategy hand, so I waste it. T2 he plays City of Traitors and a 2/2 Endless One. I play Mox Diamond and Rishadan Port. On upkeep I tap his City. He then just attacks and passes. I just play a land and pass. He attacks and passes. We do this for a while. At some point he plays Eye of Ugin attacks then passes. So I use my freed mana to play Tireless Tracker. His next turn he plays Thought-Knot Seer and takes my Gamble. I don't block when he attacks, and my next turn I play a land and pass. He alpha strikes, so I pop my clue to make Tireless a 4/3 and block the Thought-Knot, end result draws me 2 cards and again I only take 2 damage. This finally found my last piece of the combo, so I make it on my next turn for the win. He was holding up a lot of graveyard removal, but I didn't use it the entire game.
Match 2 - Infect 2-1 - he wins the die roll so he plays first Game 1: He wins on turn 2 with Glistener Elf + Invigorate + Berserk. Game 2: I win with a turn 4 combo. Game 3: He plays Glistener Elf, and turn 2 he's got Blighted Agent. I play Glacial Chasm and get my combo in a couple turns. At this point he has an Inkmoth Nexus, 2 Glistener Elf, 1 Blighted Agent, and 1 Noble Hierarch. I drop the Chasm to attack, he blocks with Inkmoth, and at end of combat I untap Merit Leige with Maze of Ith. This is incase he draws a Wasteland, I would rather have the blocker than the Maze. He only has 1 card in hand, so I doubt I'm dying next turn which is why I went this route. He alpha strikes, I block an Elf, and take 6 more poison, for a total of 7 poison in the game. Merit Leige was an 18/18 at that point, but it was good enough for the swing back win.
Match 3 - Grixis Delver 2-1 - he wins the die roll so he plays first Game 1: He plays a T1 Delver of Secrets, I Wasteland his Underground Sea, play Mox Diamond and Molten Vortex. I take 3 from his delver, but kill it the following turn, and wasteland his next land as well. I use Life from the Loam and Molten Vortex to deal him 2-6 damage for the next several turns and take the win. Game 2: He has a T1 Delver again (it flips his next turn). I play Chalice of the Void for 1 and get the Loam engine going. HOWEVER, I let him play Gitaxian Probe and Surgical Extraction. It wasn't until he was looking through my deck that I realize my mistake, and I feel super super dumb. I've been playing too much online, and am use to the triggers just happening for me; or so is my excuse. I would have won this game if I didn't let this happen. Either way, several turns later he picks up the win with just Delver.
Game 3: I play Ancient Tomb and Chalice of the Void, he doesn't have a Force of Will. He then plays 2 Surgical Extraction and 3 Gitaxian Probe to take his health down to 8, I remember the trigger on all of these now. He uses all of the cards in his graveyard to play Gurmag Angler. Interesting play, I don't have a Maze of Ith. He get's me down to 12 before I make the combo for the win.
Match 4 - BR Reanimator 2-0 - he wins the die roll so he plays first Game 1: He mulligans down to 5 cards, reveals Chancellor of the Annex and plays out his whole hand using Unmask on himself to drop the Chancellor and Renaimate it bringing him down to 13 life. I play Maze of Ith and pass. He does a real face palm. Keep in mind, my first spell is going to cost me 2 exra to play, and I have 0 mana still. Regardless he doesn't draw into much and eventually I make the combo and win. Game 2: He mulligans down to 4 cards, does nothing and passes. I play Exploration and some lands. He does nothing again, and I play Sphere of Resistance. I'm sitting on Wasteland at this point, and his only land in his hand is a Badlands. A couple turns later I have the combo and he scoops, showing me that because of sphere + wasteland he was just locked out of the game.
Match 5 - Grixis Delver 1-2 - I win the die roll and I play first
He offers an intentional draw, but the standings were just displayed and for some reason my opponent match wins are terrible. So I am concerned that if I take 2 IDs that I will fall out of Top 8. This, of course, is foolish of me, but I mad the snap decision and played. Apparently he knew what I was on, but I didn't know what he was playing. If anything, this would have made me want to play it out more. Game 1: My opening hand doesn't have Punishing Fire or Molten Vortex, but I do have Wasteland, Mox Diamond, Exploration, and Gamble. So I play most of those out, gamble for Life from the Loam and it goes to my graveyard, then pass. He has T1 Deathrite Shaman, ugh. I wasteland his Underground Sea hoping to keep him off of black mana, then get back wasteland with Life from the Loam. He of course has another black mana source and takes Loam with Shaman. I waste that source as well, he plays Volcanic Island then Young Pyromancer. I don't do much for the rest of the game and he takes the win. Game 2: I kept a quick combo hand, he plays another T1 deathrite, but I make the token on T3, win on T4. Game 3: He plays T1 deathrite (again), I play Mox -> Chalice for 1. He does nothing and passes, I play The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. He forgets to pay for deathrite and I call him on it. I feel bad about this, but I've also made a ton of mistakes throughout the day. I get the Loam engine going, and remmeber to counter his Surgical! He plays Gurmag Angler and he remembers to pay on all of his turns by sticking an Underground Sea under it. If I can find Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, Maze of Ith, or Thespian's Stage in the next 3 turns I win. But, I don't. When I'm at 10 life left he finds a Pithing Needle and plays it against Maze of Ith taking one of my outs away, I don't find it, so it doesn't matter, but it decreases my chances. He only has the 1 land, so I'm really just hoping for waste or quarter. Anyway, by the time Stage turns over, he picked up a blue card for his force of will, and takes the win. I had a really good shot here, several turns to find one piece of land destruction or something else to slow him down; oh well, first loss of the day.
Match 6 - Intentional Draw
They show the standings, and I'm in 4th (what?!?), and guaranteed 4th seed if the top 4 people ID, which we do.
Quarter Finals - BR Reanimator 2-0 - I'm the higher seed and play first (I'm struggling to remember Game 1 exactly, something isn't quite adding up. I remember that I had Grove, Stage, Chasm, and Exploration on T2, but for some reason wasn't able to make the token, maybe I had too many copies of Depths?) Game 1: I can't remember my exact 7, but I know I had Exploration, Grove of the Burnwillows, Thespian's Stage, Dark Depths, and Glacial Chasm. I play grove, exploration, stage. He fetches, plays Entomb for Grislebrand, Lotus Petal and then Reanimate for it. He draws 7 cards and discards Sire of Insanity then passes. I draw another Dark Depths, play it, and then Glacial Chasm saccing the depths. Overall my board now consists of Exploration, Chasm, Stage, and Burnwillows. As expected he returns Sire and passes realzing he can't deal me damage. We both discard our hands. I go to 18, play some land and pass. He returns Chancellor of the Annex. I'm at 14 life and draw Gamble, and make a really bad decision. I play it, and get Punishing Fire, which goes straight to my yard. I miscalculated here, my only red source is Grove, so I can't burn him out, he's at 4 life after Gamble from fetches, griselbrand, and grove. That's okay though, I'm down to 8 life and draw another Gamble, I realized my mistake earlier, and immediately gamble for Life from the Loam, my next upkeep I copy Chasm, and let the first Chasm go. I go down to 4 life over the next few turns with Chasm, copying chasm, etc. At some point I get Karakas, bounce the Griselbrand and finally have enough mana to make the token and loam back Chasm. My next turn I sac the chasm, dredge back loam, and attack. He blocks with the Chancellor freeing up my mana, so I bring back chasm and replay it. The following turn I sac the Chasm again and attack for the win. This game probably took 30 minutes, but we're not being timed because it's the Top 8. We have the entire room as a crowd now, and are just starting Game 2. In my defense, I wasn't the person using the time. He was really trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. Game 2: My opening hand is Karakas, 2 Maze of Ith, Mox Diamond, Life from the Loam, Gamble, Bojuka Bog. He plays fetchland and passes. I draw Crop Rotation, play mox and gamble getting Surgical Extraction. I keep the Surgical, and discard Bog, then I play Maze of Ith. He plays a second land and passes. I can't remember my next draw, but my only other mana producer is Karakas, so I play it to cast Loam for the Bog. He plays a third land, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual and Grave Titan, ugh. I don't have enough mana to cast Loam and Crop, so I take a normal draw and get a Rishadan Port. I play a second maze and crop away my Karakas for The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. He pays for his creatures, attacks with Titan, I only take 2 because I untap the titan and a token. He only has 3 mana producers so he didn't even bother making more tokens, or he forgot, the end result would be the same because of Tabernacle. I dredge back loam, play Port, cast it getting back the Karakas, etc. I take 2 a turn for 7 total turns, bringing me down to 6 life. At some point I took another draw, and now have 2 Surgical Extractions in hand and can make the token. He sacs all of his creatures and despite having Karakas on the field he tries to reanimate Griselbrand, so I surgical it using Mox so I take no life. He then plays Lotus Petal, Thoughtseize himself, and tries to ExhumeChancellor of the Annex, so I surgical that as well bringing me down to 4 life. He conceeds now because he has no blocker for Merit Leige. I didn't bring back Bog this game because during my turns there was nothing of major importance in the graveyard, so sorcery speed Bog wasn't going to be useful, and a lot of my lands didn't produce mana, so having one come into play tapped seemed too slow.
Semi Finals - RUG Delver 2-0 - I'm the higher seed and play first Game 1: I had an explosive hand with mox diamond, exploration, grove, punishing fire, and loam, so this game was pretty easy. I got the combo out on T5 I believe and he couldn't do anything. Game 2: He fetched and pondered. I play Ancient Tomb and Chalice of the Void on 1, he didn't have Force of Will, so it resolved. He fetches and plays Tarmogoyf then passes. I'm slowly playing out my lands, including Thespian's Stage, but the Goyf is only a 2/3 so despite losing health, it's not a big deal. I have Punishing Fire but it's not useful in this spot. He casts Delver of Secrets, I counter it with Chalice, Brainstorm also coutner it, but now Goyf is a 4/5, so he takes me down to 14. Then he removes everything from his graveyard except Delver to play Hooting Mandrills (can't remember how he got the full 6 cards in his yard), so Goyf is a 1/2. I cast Punishing Fire on it and it doesn't die, I wasn't aware of the interaction here but the judge confirmed that since Punishing Fire is the only instant, it would bring Goyf to a 2/3 before damage would kill it. This doesn't actually matter, because I draw the Dark Depths and make the token. He can't answer it.
Finals - Death and Taxes 0-2 - He's the higher seed and he plays first Game 1: I have another explsoive hand with exploration, loam, etc. However, I have no punishing fire or molten vortex, and I know he's on D&T. I decide to keep it anyway, and he has a T3 Sanctum Prelate, which locks me out of the game. I finally draw the Punishing Fire, but can't cast it or loam, so over a couple turns he wins. Game 2: I have Punishing Fire, Grove, and loam, but he has another T3 Sanctum Prelate, along with Karakas, Wasteland, Rishadan Port, Phyrexian Revoker naming Molten Vortex and a T2 Rest in Peace. I end up having 3 Thespian Stage on the field, and have the option to make the token on T4, but because of Rest in Peace I hold off hoping to draw a Krosan Grip. At some point I have 2 thespian stages copy wasteland, so I can take care of his wasteland and Karakas (he tapped the wasteland). Because of this I have 2 exiled stage, 1 on the battlefield, and 1 left in the deck, meaning if I make the token and he Swords to Plowshare then it's looking really bad for me. I draw the Grip at 5 life, use it, but fall down to 1 life, and he still has a Revoker and Prelate on the field so I am toast. The following turn I decide to make the token anyway just in hopes that he now swords it, but he doesn't, and instead casts Palace Jailer to get rid of the token. This doesn't really matter, because he can alpha strike for the win. If I had Molten Vortex I would have gone for the Revoker instead of the Rest in Peace, but alas I didn't, and as it turned out it wouldn't have mattered if I hit the Revoker instead of the Rest in Peace because he had the Jailer.
A bit disappointed that I lost so handedly in the finals, but still the best I've don in real life. 2/35 isn't bad. I definately made a lot of mistakes throughout the day. The two biggest being the missed Chalice triggers and going for Punishing fire in the Quarter finals instead of Loam; I won both matches, so they weren't crippling mistakes. Not sure what I could have done better against D&T. He was a good player with a solid hand, so congrats to him. Maybe I'll face him again in Las Vegas, lol.
EE lock. Get it with the good old Intuition. Or just one EE on 3 and handle the Goyf with Maze or PF....
Current list is
2x taiga
1x savannah
1x forest
3x fetch
3x grove of the burnwillows
3x maze of ith
1x karakas
1x bojuka bog
1x academy ruins
1x the tabernacle at pendrel vale
1x glacial chasm
4x wasteland
2x ghost quarter
3x rishadan port
1x tolaria west
3x thespian stage
2x dark depths
4x mox diamond
4x life from the loam
4x crop rotation
3x gamble
1x intuition
3x punishing fire
3x engineered explosives
3x Tireless Tracker
3x Krosan Grip
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Ethersworn Cannonist
2x Chalice of the Void
1x Zuran Orb
1x Trinisphere
As a side note, anyone have german tireless trackers, thalias, gambles, or chalice of the voids they want to trade?
Noctem89: Your deck has 56 cards or am I counting wrong?
Recently I purchased the deck on MTGO, saved up several cards for some time and finally put it together (seems like this is a common theme on the thread). Are there other MTGO players here?
I've only been playing MTGO for about two weeks, but it seems with the banning of Top there has been a huge increase of combo decks, or I'm getting really unlucky. I've made some tweaks and came up with something that's a bit of a hybrid between Lands and Aggro Loam that has been doing better. I'm looking for feedback, or people to tell me I'm crazy. It looks like Noctem89 ran into a similar issue, and is going down a similar path but with RUG rather than RG.
3 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Wasteland
1 Rishadan Port
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Maze of Ith
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Taiga
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Mox Diamond
4 Gamble
1 Molten Vortex
3 Punishing Fire
4 Crop Rotation
4 Exploration
4 Life from the Loam
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Toxic Deluge
3 Krosan Grip
1 Golgari Charm
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Leyline of the Void
I think half of the reason that I'm doing better with this deck is the surprise factor. Ex. I played against TES and Gambled for Thalia on T2, kept it, and used Deathrite to boost me the mana to play it. They just conceded. Then in G2 they made 14 goblins on T1 and I crop rotated for Tabernacle on my turn.
@Noctem89 - It looks like you're missing 4x Life from the Loam , this is why you're deck is short.
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yea, I was missing loams and the academy ruins (I run 61 main). Seems pretty important. As for tolaria west vs gamble, I agree that twest was/is still good at being a silver bullet tutor, but especially in metas where we need more speed, I feel like gamble just fills the slot better. The whole being able to answer everything thing is still defiantly doable with this version because of intuition fetching full locks rather than one piece, and ee recursion. Between those two things, RUG will always be able to answer the weirdo things that legacy can throw at you better than RG can. However, RG's plan for weird things is to jam a 20/20 and hope its good enough (which it is a lot of the time). The issues RG runs into is if decks and pilots are remotely prepared to fight a 20/20, it can't switch gears and grind like RUG can. Personally, I approach most matchups from a lock-them-out viewpoint rather than a combo viewpoint, which works better with this strategy. It is nice being able to switch mindsets game one and just jam our combo, thus a more hybrid build.
@xonnex
I like the maindeck thalia idea. Ive been using it in my sideboard for a while now, and its just the best. Most decks expect artifact hate, and board accordingly. Thalia ignores things like hurklys, and provides a clock, both of which are super relevant.
Agreed, Thalia has been great so far. 1 main deck is really great with Gamble if you're in a bind. I've won a couple times now against storm because of Thalia beats. Now if they want to take care of the hate cards, they need both Massacre and Hurkyl's Recall.
How has the 3 fetch land been treating you? I feel that I need 5 when running 4 colors and I have Deathrite to help supplement as well. Has this been an issue for you? I might suggest doing -1 Ghost Quarter +1 fetch.
For my side, the shakiest part seems like Leyline. I'm considering these changes
-3 Leyline of the Void
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Tireless Tracker
+1 Containment Priest OR Ancient Tomb
The biggest issue I find with Leyline is that it's just terrible if it's not in your opening hand. And sometimes mulling down to 4 to try again just doesn't feel right.
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I would not run leyline for that exact reason you mentioned. What decks do you want leyline against? Reanimator, maybe lands mirror? The card is powerful in those matchups, but you also need to combo off fast in those matchups so mulling low to find it usually just hampers your development too much. If its graveyard hate you want, I'd play a combination of surgical and nihil spellbomb. Also, I agree you need some tireless trackers in the board, as its insane vs decks that attack your loams postboard.
I try to put Crucible in the SB right now but putting a CotV in it's place. The feeling about Intuition is right (slow and lot of mana), but the card, IF it resolves is just still too strong for me.
Nether Void is great as you said, but besides it costs 4mana, it has the standard-problem: It's an Enchantment and not a 4-of. I would put crazy stuff like Chains of Mephistopheles in, if that wouldn't be (and have the space).
@Alexeezay - I haven't had any color problems with my version, but I'm not playing RUGw, I'm RGwb
G: 20 sources (5 fetch, 4 Duals, 4 Grove, 1 Forest, 1 Horizon Canopy, 4 Mox, and 1 Deathrite)
R: 16 sources (5 fetch, 2 Taiga, 4 Grove, 4 Mox, and 1 Deathrite)
W: 13 Sources (5 fetch, 1 Savannah, 1 Horizon Canopy, 1 Karakas, 4 Mox, and 1 Deathrite)
B: 12 Sources (5 fetch, 1 Bayou, 1 Bog, 4 Mox, and 1 Deathrite)
The reason it's worth looking at the hatebears again is that they help give you a clock against combo, which is gaining a lot more traction right now. I've really been liking the 1 Deathrite Shaman, it just does soo much. It helps you against Blood Moon decks, Burn by acting as a blocker and potential life gain, Reanimator, and Storm by draining cards from the graveyard. Nether Void as you pointed out, is simply too slow. And Hurkyl's Recall or Pulverize is brutal against our normal sideboard. Also Thalia has protection from Duress. I haven't tried Phyrexian Revoker but it seems too conditional, and Trinisphere is amazing, but also feels too slow in the current meta. You need something T2 at the latest, which is do-able, but less often with Trinisphere.
I'm not sold on Containment Priest yet, it feels too slow against Reanimator; which has just felt like a terrible matchup recently. In fact, I feel better going against Storm than Reanimator right now, which is why I'm trying Surgical Extraction. They don't fall for Crop Rotation these days :).
I also feel that if you're starting to cut Intuition because it's too slow, then RUG is just too slow right now.
I'm not that happy with my hybrid deck yet, but it has felt stronger than RG lands at this time. I't silly to say, but the banning of Top has felt like it hurt Lands more than it's helped. Things I'm considering are adding back more Rishadan Port, having 8 effect (or at least 7) rather than 6 does seem better, and going to 2 Tireless Tracker rather than 1 in the board OR having the 4th Dark Depths in the board to help race against combo and Burn.
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So first, I assume everyone here wants a control version of Lands, not the combo version. But a control version is not really fast no matter what you play (mean you don't WIN fast). If you wanna have someting fast to win, do combolands, turbodepth or whatever. So fast here means fast locks, fast control... I like the RUG way, but we're tending and focusing in a RGWx direction for now or at least away from slow control... So let's see. Just thinking loud...
It's good to have a clock against combo. They cannot just wait to get more mana and come arround the sphere, they have to do it fast or remove Thalia... But with a Thalia alone, is the pressure really high enough? Is control-Lands really too slow if you just have a sphere or CotV out? Do you cut Tracker because you now have a Sphere on legs? If you do, what is the drawing engine besides loam?
It's good to have different types of hate(artifact and creature) so they have to find the correct way to get rid of them and cannot get rid of them all the same time. Thats the really good point.
But I can play an XX or 2 potentially faster than a 1w (with Ancient Tomb...) so I will gain a few turns against most of decks from T1 on.
You like to integrate Surgical Exreaction or whatever you need against reanimator or storm. OK. But with only 2 in the SB, you need to draw it... FAST.
I see maybe I really should put in more Gambles and maybe MAYBE get rid of Tolaria West to find what I want T1, it's not gambling for a wincon, it's gambling for hate/lock...right. Eg CoW for Wasteland lock. If I include white, I have to cut some blue anyway so TW cannot be played so well.
I still can keep my EEs and Intuition for later as long as I get my hate out soon(er).
Or is the whole EE-ruins combo just too slow at all? But what are the alternatives?
Keep 'em main and side all out to have a D&T deck G2 incl Sanctum Prelate?
So: Maybe* I try:
Tolaria West out (ouch)
Some blue out
Some white in
Gambles in
Keep CoW in
Keep one CotV in
Keep EE and Intuition in so far
1 Thalia SB
Just to see how it performs...
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Dark Depths
1 Forest
1 Glacial Chasm
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karakas
3 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Taiga
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Thespian's Stage
2 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Crop Rotation
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Exploration
1 Molten vortex
1 Manabond
3 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
4 Mox Diamond
3 Punishing Fire
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Krosan Grip
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Warping Wail
3 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Surgical Extraction
R1: BR reanimator 2-0
R2: TES 2-1
R3: DnT 2-0
R4: Mono B Reanimator 2-1
R5: ID
Top 8:
Quarters: Eldrazi 2-0
Semis: Same monoB as the Swiss 0-2
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No Intuition or Tolaria West anymore... Did you miss them? Did the Gambles a good job? Would a 4th Gamble be something?
Why Warping Wail in the SB? Was it useful?
Thorn instead of Sphere in SB??
Did you miss the Trackers?
Manabond main... I think that is a really good idea now.
GQ still better than Ports?
How did you win most of the time? Was it more control or just a fast token?
You're so right.
Just another question: What to do against FoW(...) in general. Having a solution to SnT, reanimate(...) is great, but not if it gets countered. Or do you just poker, they have either a fast combo or a counter but not both?
So right again. I knew the PN PR difference but was hoping I can stay with Spheres I bought instead of Thorn I don't have.
Not missing Intuition or West right now. The deck feels very smooth being almost two colors now. I dont think a 4th gamble is worth it right now for me, I'm okay without it.
Warping Wail was a way for me to hedge against cards like Show and Tell, Reanimate, Natural Order and Infernal Tutor. It also came in handy killing things like DRS. It's super easy to cast since we have around 16-20 colorless producing lands. I even countered an Unmask in a matchup where I was holding a surgical. It felt nice. Not sure if they'll stay around, but we'll see.
Revoker is my choice of activated ability hate, especially since it provides a clock. You don't want to give combo decks time to just find answers. Also, cutting mana abilities is exactly what your deck aims to do, in terms of mana denial.
Thorn comes in a lot of matchups where revoker does too, and I was also playing trackers but had to cut them for this event because of the large amount of combo. For example, against ANT, I went T1: Crop Rotate for Ancient Tomb -> Thorn. T2, I cast revoker off tomb and wastelanded. I think the only creature based matchup you really want sphere instead of thorn is elves and the matchup is positive anyways, I feel.
Manabond main is a great gamble target when you're behind or just need to close the game out.
Unsure if GQ is better than ports, I haven't tested ports in a while, partially because my girlfriend has them in her D&T deck, but I think GQ is still great against the greedy BUG manabases and even decks like ANT. It just doesn't help as much against reanimator and S&S which are awful matchups anyways.
I lost in the finals of another small 15 man GPT on Sunday playing the same list. List feels pretty nice. I played:
R1: Turbo Depths 2-1
R2: Deathblade 2-1
R3: UR Delver 2-0
R4: ID
Top 4:
Semis: UR Delver 2-1
Finals: Infect 2-1
Funny enough, I lost to my friend piloting my own infect deck I lent out He was on the play G3, and let with T1 tropical island Glistener Elf. His hand had Daze, Invigorate, Bersek, Blossoming Defense. Cant beat that!
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Sure, it's not RUG and doesn't feel so much like Lands anymore, but could a switch (just thinking) to white creatures maybe with a Volrath Stronghold and a Cavern of Souls on 'Human' be another type of control-lands?
(again: I love RUG, even with just AR+EE)
What do you put in for the Trop? Other Duals or other lands...?
I like them but never found the space and it may be too slow against some decks or unusable against reanimate... Maybe SB.
Same problem here. Normally depending what you need. If the Exploration or hate is out, you can dredge because you could get everything else out of the grave. If you need to find something special fast and you only have a 1of, maybe draw (it or a Gamble/Rotation) is better.
CotV
Still waiting for unban of Bazaar of Baghdad ;-)
I want to slow down the opponent and not help him a little even if it helps me potentialy more.
His list:
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Maze of Ith
4 Rishadan Port
3 Taiga
4 Thespian's Stage
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Dark Depths
4 Exploration
2 Manabond
1 Molten Vortex
4 Crop Rotation
4 Punishing Fire
4 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Krosan Grip
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Karakas
~Myth
After some qualms I gave up white, and tried out a couple things you guys were mentioning. Here's the deck I went with:
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Wasteland
3 Rishadan Port
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Maze of Ith
1 Windswept Heath
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Taiga
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Bayou
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Warping Wail
4 Mox Diamond
4 Gamble
1 Molten Vortex
3 Punishing Fire
4 Crop Rotation
4 Exploration
1 Manabond
4 Life from the Loam
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Kozilek's Return
3 Krosan Grip
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Warping Wail
I have a tournament tomorrow in person, max is 52 people not sure how many signed up; going to play the same deck.
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Nice job. Did you like only 2 maze?
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I took 2nd place in a GPT yesterday. There were 35 people there, so we did 6 rounds then cut to top 8. I was playing the same deck I listed the day before yesterday where I went 5-0 online.
R1: Eldrazi 2-0
R2: Infect 2-1
R3: Grixis Delver 2-1
R4: BR Reanimator 2-0
R5: Grixis Delver 1-2 (should have ID, but I was silly and declined)
R6: ID
Top 8 (4th seed)
Quarter: BR Reanimator 2-0
Semi: RUG Delver 2-0
Final: Death and Taxes 0-2
First place would have given me two byes for GP Las Vegas, disappointed by losing to D&T, but the guy was good so he deserved it.
I missed having the 3rd Maze of Ith, and I really wanted a 2nd Molten Vortex. But, Ancient Tomb did soo much work yesterday, that I can't see myself taking it out. I might consider cutting the main deck Warping Wail. I didn't even draw it yesterday, but online it's won me games against reanimator, show and tell, and storm, so it's a difficult choice. Barbarian Ring also wouldn't have helped yesterday. The only time I needed it was against Sanctum Prelate, but I also didn't have a graveyard in G2, so it wouldn't have done anything.
Full Report
Going off memory for the most part. I kept track of who went first, life totals, and occasionally game state, but bare with me if something doesn't add up. I likely forgot something.
Match 1 - Eldrazi 2-0 - he wins the die roll so he plays first
Game 1: He had an interesting build that used Serum Powder. He used it had one in each of his hands for the first 3 hands, so he removed 21 cards from his deck; I believe this is because he was playing Eternal Scourage. He got me to 2 life, and he was at 21 thanks to Grove. But I make the combo at the end of his turn, and attack bringing him down to 1 life. Then use grove to bring back punishing fire, and cast it for the win.
Game 2: He plays Ancient Tomb then passes. I'm on a mana denial strategy hand, so I waste it. T2 he plays City of Traitors and a 2/2 Endless One. I play Mox Diamond and Rishadan Port. On upkeep I tap his City. He then just attacks and passes. I just play a land and pass. He attacks and passes. We do this for a while. At some point he plays Eye of Ugin attacks then passes. So I use my freed mana to play Tireless Tracker. His next turn he plays Thought-Knot Seer and takes my Gamble. I don't block when he attacks, and my next turn I play a land and pass. He alpha strikes, so I pop my clue to make Tireless a 4/3 and block the Thought-Knot, end result draws me 2 cards and again I only take 2 damage. This finally found my last piece of the combo, so I make it on my next turn for the win. He was holding up a lot of graveyard removal, but I didn't use it the entire game.
Match 2 - Infect 2-1 - he wins the die roll so he plays first
Game 1: He wins on turn 2 with Glistener Elf + Invigorate + Berserk.
Game 2: I win with a turn 4 combo.
Game 3: He plays Glistener Elf, and turn 2 he's got Blighted Agent. I play Glacial Chasm and get my combo in a couple turns. At this point he has an Inkmoth Nexus, 2 Glistener Elf, 1 Blighted Agent, and 1 Noble Hierarch. I drop the Chasm to attack, he blocks with Inkmoth, and at end of combat I untap Merit Leige with Maze of Ith. This is incase he draws a Wasteland, I would rather have the blocker than the Maze. He only has 1 card in hand, so I doubt I'm dying next turn which is why I went this route. He alpha strikes, I block an Elf, and take 6 more poison, for a total of 7 poison in the game. Merit Leige was an 18/18 at that point, but it was good enough for the swing back win.
Match 3 - Grixis Delver 2-1 - he wins the die roll so he plays first
Game 1: He plays a T1 Delver of Secrets, I Wasteland his Underground Sea, play Mox Diamond and Molten Vortex. I take 3 from his delver, but kill it the following turn, and wasteland his next land as well. I use Life from the Loam and Molten Vortex to deal him 2-6 damage for the next several turns and take the win.
Game 2: He has a T1 Delver again (it flips his next turn). I play Chalice of the Void for 1 and get the Loam engine going. HOWEVER, I let him play Gitaxian Probe and Surgical Extraction. It wasn't until he was looking through my deck that I realize my mistake, and I feel super super dumb. I've been playing too much online, and am use to the triggers just happening for me; or so is my excuse. I would have won this game if I didn't let this happen. Either way, several turns later he picks up the win with just Delver.
Game 3: I play Ancient Tomb and Chalice of the Void, he doesn't have a Force of Will. He then plays 2 Surgical Extraction and 3 Gitaxian Probe to take his health down to 8, I remember the trigger on all of these now. He uses all of the cards in his graveyard to play Gurmag Angler. Interesting play, I don't have a Maze of Ith. He get's me down to 12 before I make the combo for the win.
Match 4 - BR Reanimator 2-0 - he wins the die roll so he plays first
Game 1: He mulligans down to 5 cards, reveals Chancellor of the Annex and plays out his whole hand using Unmask on himself to drop the Chancellor and Renaimate it bringing him down to 13 life. I play Maze of Ith and pass. He does a real face palm. Keep in mind, my first spell is going to cost me 2 exra to play, and I have 0 mana still. Regardless he doesn't draw into much and eventually I make the combo and win.
Game 2: He mulligans down to 4 cards, does nothing and passes. I play Exploration and some lands. He does nothing again, and I play Sphere of Resistance. I'm sitting on Wasteland at this point, and his only land in his hand is a Badlands. A couple turns later I have the combo and he scoops, showing me that because of sphere + wasteland he was just locked out of the game.
Match 5 - Grixis Delver 1-2 - I win the die roll and I play first
He offers an intentional draw, but the standings were just displayed and for some reason my opponent match wins are terrible. So I am concerned that if I take 2 IDs that I will fall out of Top 8. This, of course, is foolish of me, but I mad the snap decision and played. Apparently he knew what I was on, but I didn't know what he was playing. If anything, this would have made me want to play it out more.
Game 1: My opening hand doesn't have Punishing Fire or Molten Vortex, but I do have Wasteland, Mox Diamond, Exploration, and Gamble. So I play most of those out, gamble for Life from the Loam and it goes to my graveyard, then pass. He has T1 Deathrite Shaman, ugh. I wasteland his Underground Sea hoping to keep him off of black mana, then get back wasteland with Life from the Loam. He of course has another black mana source and takes Loam with Shaman. I waste that source as well, he plays Volcanic Island then Young Pyromancer. I don't do much for the rest of the game and he takes the win.
Game 2: I kept a quick combo hand, he plays another T1 deathrite, but I make the token on T3, win on T4.
Game 3: He plays T1 deathrite (again), I play Mox -> Chalice for 1. He does nothing and passes, I play The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. He forgets to pay for deathrite and I call him on it. I feel bad about this, but I've also made a ton of mistakes throughout the day. I get the Loam engine going, and remmeber to counter his Surgical! He plays Gurmag Angler and he remembers to pay on all of his turns by sticking an Underground Sea under it. If I can find Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, Maze of Ith, or Thespian's Stage in the next 3 turns I win. But, I don't. When I'm at 10 life left he finds a Pithing Needle and plays it against Maze of Ith taking one of my outs away, I don't find it, so it doesn't matter, but it decreases my chances. He only has the 1 land, so I'm really just hoping for waste or quarter. Anyway, by the time Stage turns over, he picked up a blue card for his force of will, and takes the win. I had a really good shot here, several turns to find one piece of land destruction or something else to slow him down; oh well, first loss of the day.
Match 6 - Intentional Draw
They show the standings, and I'm in 4th (what?!?), and guaranteed 4th seed if the top 4 people ID, which we do.
Quarter Finals - BR Reanimator 2-0 - I'm the higher seed and play first
(I'm struggling to remember Game 1 exactly, something isn't quite adding up. I remember that I had Grove, Stage, Chasm, and Exploration on T2, but for some reason wasn't able to make the token, maybe I had too many copies of Depths?)
Game 1: I can't remember my exact 7, but I know I had Exploration, Grove of the Burnwillows, Thespian's Stage, Dark Depths, and Glacial Chasm. I play grove, exploration, stage. He fetches, plays Entomb for Grislebrand, Lotus Petal and then Reanimate for it. He draws 7 cards and discards Sire of Insanity then passes. I draw another Dark Depths, play it, and then Glacial Chasm saccing the depths. Overall my board now consists of Exploration, Chasm, Stage, and Burnwillows. As expected he returns Sire and passes realzing he can't deal me damage. We both discard our hands. I go to 18, play some land and pass. He returns Chancellor of the Annex. I'm at 14 life and draw Gamble, and make a really bad decision. I play it, and get Punishing Fire, which goes straight to my yard. I miscalculated here, my only red source is Grove, so I can't burn him out, he's at 4 life after Gamble from fetches, griselbrand, and grove. That's okay though, I'm down to 8 life and draw another Gamble, I realized my mistake earlier, and immediately gamble for Life from the Loam, my next upkeep I copy Chasm, and let the first Chasm go. I go down to 4 life over the next few turns with Chasm, copying chasm, etc. At some point I get Karakas, bounce the Griselbrand and finally have enough mana to make the token and loam back Chasm. My next turn I sac the chasm, dredge back loam, and attack. He blocks with the Chancellor freeing up my mana, so I bring back chasm and replay it. The following turn I sac the Chasm again and attack for the win. This game probably took 30 minutes, but we're not being timed because it's the Top 8. We have the entire room as a crowd now, and are just starting Game 2. In my defense, I wasn't the person using the time. He was really trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.
Game 2: My opening hand is Karakas, 2 Maze of Ith, Mox Diamond, Life from the Loam, Gamble, Bojuka Bog. He plays fetchland and passes. I draw Crop Rotation, play mox and gamble getting Surgical Extraction. I keep the Surgical, and discard Bog, then I play Maze of Ith. He plays a second land and passes. I can't remember my next draw, but my only other mana producer is Karakas, so I play it to cast Loam for the Bog. He plays a third land, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual and Grave Titan, ugh. I don't have enough mana to cast Loam and Crop, so I take a normal draw and get a Rishadan Port. I play a second maze and crop away my Karakas for The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. He pays for his creatures, attacks with Titan, I only take 2 because I untap the titan and a token. He only has 3 mana producers so he didn't even bother making more tokens, or he forgot, the end result would be the same because of Tabernacle. I dredge back loam, play Port, cast it getting back the Karakas, etc. I take 2 a turn for 7 total turns, bringing me down to 6 life. At some point I took another draw, and now have 2 Surgical Extractions in hand and can make the token. He sacs all of his creatures and despite having Karakas on the field he tries to reanimate Griselbrand, so I surgical it using Mox so I take no life. He then plays Lotus Petal, Thoughtseize himself, and tries to Exhume Chancellor of the Annex, so I surgical that as well bringing me down to 4 life. He conceeds now because he has no blocker for Merit Leige. I didn't bring back Bog this game because during my turns there was nothing of major importance in the graveyard, so sorcery speed Bog wasn't going to be useful, and a lot of my lands didn't produce mana, so having one come into play tapped seemed too slow.
Semi Finals - RUG Delver 2-0 - I'm the higher seed and play first
Game 1: I had an explosive hand with mox diamond, exploration, grove, punishing fire, and loam, so this game was pretty easy. I got the combo out on T5 I believe and he couldn't do anything.
Game 2: He fetched and pondered. I play Ancient Tomb and Chalice of the Void on 1, he didn't have Force of Will, so it resolved. He fetches and plays Tarmogoyf then passes. I'm slowly playing out my lands, including Thespian's Stage, but the Goyf is only a 2/3 so despite losing health, it's not a big deal. I have Punishing Fire but it's not useful in this spot. He casts Delver of Secrets, I counter it with Chalice, Brainstorm also coutner it, but now Goyf is a 4/5, so he takes me down to 14. Then he removes everything from his graveyard except Delver to play Hooting Mandrills (can't remember how he got the full 6 cards in his yard), so Goyf is a 1/2. I cast Punishing Fire on it and it doesn't die, I wasn't aware of the interaction here but the judge confirmed that since Punishing Fire is the only instant, it would bring Goyf to a 2/3 before damage would kill it. This doesn't actually matter, because I draw the Dark Depths and make the token. He can't answer it.
Finals - Death and Taxes 0-2 - He's the higher seed and he plays first
Game 1: I have another explsoive hand with exploration, loam, etc. However, I have no punishing fire or molten vortex, and I know he's on D&T. I decide to keep it anyway, and he has a T3 Sanctum Prelate, which locks me out of the game. I finally draw the Punishing Fire, but can't cast it or loam, so over a couple turns he wins.
Game 2: I have Punishing Fire, Grove, and loam, but he has another T3 Sanctum Prelate, along with Karakas, Wasteland, Rishadan Port, Phyrexian Revoker naming Molten Vortex and a T2 Rest in Peace. I end up having 3 Thespian Stage on the field, and have the option to make the token on T4, but because of Rest in Peace I hold off hoping to draw a Krosan Grip. At some point I have 2 thespian stages copy wasteland, so I can take care of his wasteland and Karakas (he tapped the wasteland). Because of this I have 2 exiled stage, 1 on the battlefield, and 1 left in the deck, meaning if I make the token and he Swords to Plowshare then it's looking really bad for me. I draw the Grip at 5 life, use it, but fall down to 1 life, and he still has a Revoker and Prelate on the field so I am toast. The following turn I decide to make the token anyway just in hopes that he now swords it, but he doesn't, and instead casts Palace Jailer to get rid of the token. This doesn't really matter, because he can alpha strike for the win. If I had Molten Vortex I would have gone for the Revoker instead of the Rest in Peace, but alas I didn't, and as it turned out it wouldn't have mattered if I hit the Revoker instead of the Rest in Peace because he had the Jailer.
A bit disappointed that I lost so handedly in the finals, but still the best I've don in real life. 2/35 isn't bad. I definately made a lot of mistakes throughout the day. The two biggest being the missed Chalice triggers and going for Punishing fire in the Quarter finals instead of Loam; I won both matches, so they weren't crippling mistakes. Not sure what I could have done better against D&T. He was a good player with a solid hand, so congrats to him. Maybe I'll face him again in Las Vegas, lol.
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