I like the points that Stickballruss has mentioned, those being Dropping Witchbane, and dropping the 4 count. I have lost countless games sitting at 3 mana after accelerating out threats and watching Chandra after Koth after other 4 drops just pile up in the hand. When you finally draw that land it is so difficult to 'dump your hand' back out.
Withbane orb, only reason I don't care for it anymore is in about 50 - 100 games. Of which probably about 30 - 40 I have sided it in, I know I have cast the stupid card 3 times. I say stupid because it has died to an Ancient Grudge, and then sat there while a player just beat my face in with a creature. When I go to sidebaord and I look at it in the grip of 15... I just sigh if I have to add it. Eidolon intrigues me enough to actually go more into the play aggressive camp. I'm thinking about taking Pyro to FNM tonight... Happy Holidays my opponents :P.
Edit: Well... that didn't go well I may write up a bit of a report. The sweet and short of it is:
Match Record: 1 - 3
Game Record: 3 - 7
Match 1: Vengevine Aggro. Game one was standard, lock pieces and win with Chandra. Game 2 lost to a Shatterstorm. Game 3 was standard for us winning with Koth.
Match 2: Tron. Although I Blood Moon on turn 2, he continuously draws lands (as did I) and then casts a Wurmcoil. We had a Walking Balista high enough to kill the Wurmcoil, but that is it. Game 2, bloodmoon and begin rushing him down with Magus and Eidolon. He top decks a O Stone, into a Land, Into a Karn, Into an Ulamog. With this sequence I lose my lock pieces, and lose my rebuilt lock pieces to the Karn and Ulamog... it felt bad.
Match 3: Grixis Death Shadow - I get a Chalice, Bloodmoon out. He naturally draws his swamp and casts a Gurmag. I draw lands and rituals. Game 2 I lock him down with Chalice. He casts his stuff towards Chalice. Delves and puts Tasigur a turn before blood moon makes it.
Match 4: Jund. Game one I Blood Moon my oponent. I find Chandra. He finds a pair of Tarmogoyfs and kills me before I can get Chandra high enough (I bolt or so was in there). Game 2, a turn one bloodmoon into turn to rabble is met by his rabble and a bolt.
Reporting from the invitational. Didn't get there. 2-2 in standard, 2-2 in modern. Losses were to affinity it then UW control. Affinity did what affinity does and a chalice on one didn't stop the two ravagers or the steel overseer. Remember I was talking about playing the correct role or you will lose? Well, game one, two rabblemasters decides to show up and no bridges or moons. Game two, thoughtseize and an ancient grudge take care if three bridges.
Same theme....UW control, so of course I draw three bridges game one and no rabblemaster. Game two, we go aggro with rabblemaster, he has to tap it to block it with the 4/4 land, then I boil. Opponent looks like I just hit his cat with my car and I have go polietly remind him that we have a game three. Game three, I mull to 4 and see one land for the first 8 turns of the game.
Then, we win two. First came black white Planeswalkers abd then can burn. Still like this decision a lot and got on the wrong side of varuebce. All well, we try in the open tomorrow.
An uncharacteristicly somber finish for Fluffywolf - happens. In facing Tron, you saw The Stone and didn't have the shard (The Dark Crystal reference...it's a reach I know). But, one of the reasons why I love (2) Abrade and (2) Sorcerous Spyglass in the [75] - for just these occasions. As for GDS and Jund...you just never know. These are smart 'fair' decks that can adjust and pivot out from underneath linear lines of win.
Stickballruss!!!! Damn it, dude! In a word, 'Variance'. What's a mountainman gonna do? Occasions like this start to shift the spotlight back on our filters: Tormenting Voice, Crystal Ball, Treasure Map, Faithless Looting, and......Tezzeret's Gambit?? Anybody else up for throwing dice on this maverick? Still - keep the faith - a well balanced draw should steady the ship without such needs for crutches.
Ray, I'm making you proud brother! So, after 4-4 invitational (2-2 in modern). I entered the open. Round one loss to scapeshift because I can't draw blood moon. Two games, no moon or Magus or even a hint of anything. Then I win 5 in a row, and lose to scapeshift AGAIN....argggh....same way to...two games, no moon. That's alright. My round 9 opponent played grixis shadow and I Mulliganed to 6, scry moon on top vs an unknown opponent. Gemstone caverns, ditch ballista. Opponent goes turn one fetch, grave, Inquisition, sees chalice, mountain, ritual, Chandra. Takes chalice. I "rip" blood moon off the top and it's blood moon, what a shock. Turn one blood moon and that Inquisition was the only spell he played the whole game. Gamee two, Mulligan to six again, opponent played turn one, watery grave, serum visions. My turn was monkey,ritual, magus. Serum visions was the only spell he played games two. BOOM
Other highlight was vs another scapeshift opponent (3rd one today). Game one, turn one Moon puts him on plan B. Turn two bridge puts him on plan C....Sakura tribe beatdown! Game two, open with caverns, turn one MUTAVAULT, ritual, rabblemaster. His second turn was prismatic omens and then I activated mutavault and attacked for 9. Opponent was like...9? I'm like, yep, mutavault is a goblin. The look of enlightment on his face was priceless. He was truely amazed at how good that was and equally dismayed at how screwed he was.
Alright, Ray, we're getting there....7-2, made day two and literally crushing everything. Few more wins and I'll make top 32 and get the list published. I'm currently in 15th place after 9 rounds, so there's a real top 8 shot here. Worse card of the day....pia and Kiran nalaar. I need help from everyone on a replacement, because this card has been terrible so far. A yeah, we'll see what happens to.orrow. Ray, I wish you were here, we could have taken this down together!
Mountain-Fisted Uppercuts || 7-2 Record in Virginia's SCG Modern Invitational Open: Day 2 QUALIFIED!!! || Earthquakes of Fire
Ground Shaking News out of Virginia, Mountainfolk! Other Top 8 Finishes of Premier event aside, Russ is currently in 15th place of what has to be hundreds of competitors. And, his 2 losses are inexplicably to a deck that should not present problems. This bodes well for our hero in the meta.
I'm so thrilled for you and how you're victoriously carrying our banner high. The highlights report was cheer-worthy. Stay strong - focused for tomorrow. Don't lose sight of how much this game is mental. While competing in big tournaments over the years, I like to recall a mantra of the 2nd Magic World Champion from back in the day. He said, "Always believe in your deck. Trust in its ability to win. Know that each card within the 60 offers a competitive top deck draw".
Worse card of the day....pia and Kiran nalaar. I need help from everyone on a replacement, because this card has been terrible so far.
I am still in the wheelhouse of wanting to play one of the two "Tiny" Chandras. I'll add the other Chandra in here and speak to each (Not including 6 CMC Chandra, she's too far up the curve for this).
Chandra, Pyromaster - If you love Walking Balista for removal of dorks, this one is up your ally. It is outside the bolt range (key, although not a card you see always), removes a blocker for your Goblin Rabblemaster or out of the board Eidolon of the Great Revel. If you are going more aggressive this is clearly a great advantage. The other thing this Chandra does is allows you to dig, but without filling your hand (Ensnaring Bridge thanks you). Due to new planeswalker rules she does not conflict with our other Chandra, giving us an opportunity to be multi-planeswalker. Her ultimate is meh, but if you are looking down a board and simply need that one instant or sorcery to clear the board it may be worth while.
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh - Lil Chandra, is a pet card of mine. The issue with her is she eats a creature removal spell. This has its upside, clearing the way for Magus of the Moon or dear friend Goblin Rabblemaster. The funny part of this card is it does not always draw attention until it is too later. This card shines in control matchups post board. The ability to run her in quickly to the board and then attack, ritual, untap, ping, and flip to then ping again (Adding this up? That's 2 attack + 1 ping + 2 flip ping - 5 damage) is certainly up there for some nice damage. I've added that it can add also any amount of burn you may have utilized to untap her. The kicker is she is now around as a consistent 2 damage. Key note, she is also out of bolt range and she helps remove pesky creatures. Her ultimate is nothing to shy away from, 6 dmg + bolt per turn to the face, closes games rapidly. Chandra on turn 1 into flip chandra on turn 2. Ping on turn 3... maybe Ray's got something with that proliferate card for a Chandra ultimate on turn 4? (5 + 2 + 2 + ultimate (6) = 15 damage... hmmm). Avoids fatal push (non revolt), and if we get a path land out of her sweet. If she gets bolted saved us 3 to the face, saved a rabble, or saved a magus... There is upside, is it enough?
Chandra Nalaar - What are you doing here Nalaar? Well if we're looking for a single 1 of she may be it. She can help get rid of much larger threats that show up when we've missed bridges. If she is given the opportunity to go up twice, not hard in the later game behind locks, then we are two ticks away (turn she came down and following turn) before we are suggesting 10 to the face. Because she is 6 + 1 loyalty if not clearing a threat she is extremely difficult to kill immediately and thus becomes recursive damage or 2 turns of removal give or take. Is 5 CMC too high, probably. She risks being difficult to play out of the hand for bridge. Probably a meta-specific decision.
Thopters attack before removing card from hand (2 damage) - If there are no blockers on their side.
Mana sink but allows us to burn face or creatures if targeted artifact removal, sometimes unlikely though needing to 'play cards to remove hand size' to snuggle up with Ensnaring Bridge. Hazoret misses you... but you did say 2 damage is not enough?
Creates blockers, the tiniest of blockers but creates blockers. Fails though when our opponent is going wide.
So what are we gaining versus a pinging Chandra?
// End Edit
I still want little chandra to work, and there is a part of me tempted to run a "Chandra" build instead of our creature package. Retain Eidolon in the board, retain Magus, but maybe not?
Edit 2: Attached image. Just a quick look at what it could look like.
Top 4 is where it ends. Got to game three....got him to one life and then all is dust didnits thing. He had to top deck a land right there otherwise ita over. No worries. Full report coming soon. Oh, and I got to meet Todd Stevens. He's really cool and just as chill in person as you would think.
Oh, Ray, I played vs kid on eldrazi Tron who was like...do you know Ray krakman? Apparently he runs into you from time to time at tournaments by you. He was the eldrazi Tron player who made top 2 in this event, Joe Horton. Just a cool side story. He was my only non-scapeshift loss in the event.
I just saw the results of the open, and I'll tell you this, Russ.. You were 1 damage from winning the tournament. Your opponent would've been Lantern Control. That's like a bye. Looking forward to your always insightful tournament report.
The finals opponent would have been eldrazi Tron and I would have gotten 2nd place. Upon reviewing of my match, I made a misplay that cost me 2nd place, but we'll talk about that tomorrow. Currently stopped for gas on the way home. Short story, when you are the aggro role, you need to play the aggro role. I took one turn off from the aggro role and switched to a control role for one turn, and it was the difference. This deck is NOT easy to play, so to anyone reading this thinking about picking up this deck, take a good read on my sideboard report and make sure you know what you're doing. Tournament report will be written tomorrow in great detail. I got notes from each round, so 17 rounds of magic will be coming your way.
Mtggoldfish had Lantern as the winning deck, but no other decks listed. It's fixed now, however they have your decklist wrong. That is, unless you were running 78 cards. I'm guessing not! I'm sure they'll fix it.
I emailed StarCityGames about the deck listing error and politely requested it be called Pyro Prison going forward. Now, onto the tournament report. First, thank yous. #1 Ray Krakman. He put this deck on the map and is the sole reason why anybody knows it exists. Ray's original innovation was spot on and I love the creativity. Feel free to brew up another gem and I'll be happy to try to fine tune it with ya! Need to thank everyone in this forum. Too many to list, but those of you who have contributed before I strated writing and to those who bounced ideas back and forth with me. I've been reading this forum for a long time before I actually jumped in and joined the discussion, so even those posts way back on page 3 helped develop the deck to where it is today. Lastly, need to thank the players at the event. Should you be reading this and were one of the people who lost to a turn one blood moon or rabblemaster, I apologize for a frustrating experience. that being said, there was exactly one opponent who was not a good sport about it. EVERYONE else was really cool and despite losing in the most frustraing of ways, kept it positive. That's all the difference in the world and it was all of my opponents that made this one of the most enjoyable tournaments since 1994.
Special shout out to some of the more famous personalities I met, specifically Ali Antrazi and Todd Stevens. I casually met some others, but had a chance to have some meaningful conversations with both outside of "hey, how you doing....I'm a big fan". You guys were very cool and I really appreciated that despite being some of the more famous and high profile players in the game, you were still down to earth and "one of the guys". Also, Congratulations to Ben on winning the tournament! Halfway through out match, when we saw Eldrazi Tron was in the finals, I leaned over to Ben and whispered to him that if he beats me here, he's gonna win the whole thing. He played really well and Big Tron beats Little Tron....you know it's one of those rules of magic, #304.5a in the rulebook. Look up.
Before we begin, a quick word about strategy and best/worst cards of the tournament. back in his very first post introducing this deck to the world, he says this:
"Mulligan. 7 cards with no scry isn't all that different than 6 cards with a scry. For those doubters, I'll argue by example. Consider other decks which rely upon Leyline of Sanctity or Leyline of the Void. If they don't draw a leyline, but do draw a good hand, they'll keep it. But, if their starting hand is only average without a precious Leyline, which equals a free, uncounterable casting and what might be a free win against the right opponent, then they will certainly mulligan! The power lock suite in Pyro Prison can be even more lethal than a pre-game free casting of a Leyline. So, carefully study the makeup of your hand, and try to forecast its ramp out. A Blood Moon without a Mana Accelerator, Chalice of the Void, Tormenting Voice or Gemstone Caverns on the draw? Ship it."
In all the pages of this forum, that paragraph by Ray is the single most important one. If you want to play a moon on turn three, play something else. There were multiple times throughout the tournament were i was looking at three lands and a moon with no acceleration and I shipped it every time. Either your dead before you cast it, or it's getting countered along with your next 4 plays.
Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Cavenrs
2nd Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Cavenrs
3rd Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Caverns
This card led to more wins that I could remember. When exiling a card, remember that it's a mana ramp by itself. Evaluate your hand and make a smart choice about what to pitch. we only play 21 lands, so think long and hard before pitching a land to it. I often pitched a ritual to it if I had turn one chalice or another ritual effect and a turn one blood moon...God, feels great every time I say that...turn one blood moon. Concentrate Russ, back to the article....I even choose NOT to pitch a card to it on the draw in the quarter finals because I mulliganed to 5 game two ( I won that game).
Worst card of the day....Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Got sided out in almost every game and was only useful exactly once, more on that later. Not fast enough when you need to be the aggro deck and too slow when you need to be the control deck. They are really terrible. I know I'm being hard on them, but it's their own fault. They overstayed their welcome and now it's time for them to leave. Try don't have to go home, but they can't stay here. Gotta test something else in that slot. I was thinking more a prison theme in Icy Manipulator to tap down that pesky basic they always fetch first. It also costs 4, so it keep the curve exactly where it is. Then I considered something that could also add to the aggro package, like furnace whelp or dragon hatchling. Both have evasion, get under bridge, and can literally fireball your opponent EVERY Turn. Think about it, furnace whelp is a 2-power flyer also for 4 mana, same as Pia and Kiran, and it has fire-breathing. Hatchling costs only 2 mana, but does zero damage without the mana investment. If affinity can get under bridge and make their creature a 57/1, why can't we? Then I had another thought......Hammer of Bogardan. It's a burn spell, can tag a creature, and after opponent is locked out and it keeps coming back. It adds to the aggro package while also playing a control role. AND its got HAMMER in the name! Come on Ray....Hammer's Slammer...The picture on the card is a Hammer Slamming something....You know you want it. Plus, its from Mirage. Us old fogeys appreciate that, when mana burn was a thing and people were getting channel-fireballed to death...
Also considered Hangarback Walker. great defender, scales with the game, and then makes an army of flyers that get under bridge. Pia and Kiran are definitely going to be gone and is the only card in the 75 I would replace at this moment. what get put in its place, don't know yet....TO MTGO!!!
Tournament Report. 11-3-1 in swiss. Lost in Quarter Finals.
Round 1: Scapeshift.
For a match that was supposed to be one of our easiest, my deck entered HARD MODE and decided to try an win without any blood moon effects. That's a bold move Cotton and not a good strategy. Game one, on the play, vs an unknown opponent, I get an early chalice on one, an early bridge, and early planeswalker and then I took 4,286 damage from valaukt, just one point more than was needed to kill me.
Game two, he knows blood moon was somewhere lurking in the deep, so he sides in his creature package and I know it's coming. my opening hand had a chalice and a bridge. I've played this match a LOT because someone at my local game store plays this deck. If you rely on Blood Moon, the creature will crush you. If you rely on bridge, the lands will beat you. I figure 6 moons give me a better chance of drawing moon than leading on a moon and hoping to draw a bridge. Well, moon never showed up and we got a first round LOSS. Yep, I started this event 0-1
Round 2: Burn
Who needs Dragon's Claw? Am-I-Right? There is exactly one person on the planet who can beat this deck with a burn deck and it's my good friend John Harakidas. He practices with me all the time and he's a really good burn player. As such, we're about 50/50 in this match. Everyone else....no chance. this opponent was not my friend John, so it didn't go well for him. Turn one chalice on one, turn three moon. No more spells can be cast and we're off to game two.
Game two, gemstone Caverns on the draw, turn one, he suspends rift bolt, I play land go, he casts swiftspear on his second turn (wonder what he drew...hmmmm......), attempts to bolt me, abrade takes care of swiftspear, I take three, down to 14 and mental note that he just cast three 1-cc spells. My second turn was land #3 (thank you caverns), ritual, chalice on two. Game over. he doesn't cast another spell for the rest of the game.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Withbane orb, only reason I don't care for it anymore is in about 50 - 100 games. Of which probably about 30 - 40 I have sided it in, I know I have cast the stupid card 3 times. I say stupid because it has died to an Ancient Grudge, and then sat there while a player just beat my face in with a creature. When I go to sidebaord and I look at it in the grip of 15... I just sigh if I have to add it. Eidolon intrigues me enough to actually go more into the play aggressive camp. I'm thinking about taking Pyro to FNM tonight... Happy Holidays my opponents :P.
Edit: Well... that didn't go well I may write up a bit of a report. The sweet and short of it is:
Match Record: 1 - 3
Game Record: 3 - 7
Match 1: Vengevine Aggro. Game one was standard, lock pieces and win with Chandra. Game 2 lost to a Shatterstorm. Game 3 was standard for us winning with Koth.
Match 2: Tron. Although I Blood Moon on turn 2, he continuously draws lands (as did I) and then casts a Wurmcoil. We had a Walking Balista high enough to kill the Wurmcoil, but that is it. Game 2, bloodmoon and begin rushing him down with Magus and Eidolon. He top decks a O Stone, into a Land, Into a Karn, Into an Ulamog. With this sequence I lose my lock pieces, and lose my rebuilt lock pieces to the Karn and Ulamog... it felt bad.
Match 3: Grixis Death Shadow - I get a Chalice, Bloodmoon out. He naturally draws his swamp and casts a Gurmag. I draw lands and rituals. Game 2 I lock him down with Chalice. He casts his stuff towards Chalice. Delves and puts Tasigur a turn before blood moon makes it.
Match 4: Jund. Game one I Blood Moon my oponent. I find Chandra. He finds a pair of Tarmogoyfs and kills me before I can get Chandra high enough (I bolt or so was in there). Game 2, a turn one bloodmoon into turn to rabble is met by his rabble and a bolt.
Same theme....UW control, so of course I draw three bridges game one and no rabblemaster. Game two, we go aggro with rabblemaster, he has to tap it to block it with the 4/4 land, then I boil. Opponent looks like I just hit his cat with my car and I have go polietly remind him that we have a game three. Game three, I mull to 4 and see one land for the first 8 turns of the game.
Then, we win two. First came black white Planeswalkers abd then can burn. Still like this decision a lot and got on the wrong side of varuebce. All well, we try in the open tomorrow.
Stickballruss!!!! Damn it, dude! In a word, 'Variance'. What's a mountainman gonna do? Occasions like this start to shift the spotlight back on our filters: Tormenting Voice, Crystal Ball, Treasure Map, Faithless Looting, and......Tezzeret's Gambit?? Anybody else up for throwing dice on this maverick? Still - keep the faith - a well balanced draw should steady the ship without such needs for crutches.
Other highlight was vs another scapeshift opponent (3rd one today). Game one, turn one Moon puts him on plan B. Turn two bridge puts him on plan C....Sakura tribe beatdown! Game two, open with caverns, turn one MUTAVAULT, ritual, rabblemaster. His second turn was prismatic omens and then I activated mutavault and attacked for 9. Opponent was like...9? I'm like, yep, mutavault is a goblin. The look of enlightment on his face was priceless. He was truely amazed at how good that was and equally dismayed at how screwed he was.
Alright, Ray, we're getting there....7-2, made day two and literally crushing everything. Few more wins and I'll make top 32 and get the list published. I'm currently in 15th place after 9 rounds, so there's a real top 8 shot here. Worse card of the day....pia and Kiran nalaar. I need help from everyone on a replacement, because this card has been terrible so far. A yeah, we'll see what happens to.orrow. Ray, I wish you were here, we could have taken this down together!
Ground Shaking News out of Virginia, Mountainfolk! Other Top 8 Finishes of Premier event aside, Russ is currently in 15th place of what has to be hundreds of competitors. And, his 2 losses are inexplicably to a deck that should not present problems. This bodes well for our hero in the meta.
I'm so thrilled for you and how you're victoriously carrying our banner high. The highlights report was cheer-worthy. Stay strong - focused for tomorrow. Don't lose sight of how much this game is mental. While competing in big tournaments over the years, I like to recall a mantra of the 2nd Magic World Champion from back in the day. He said, "Always believe in your deck. Trust in its ability to win. Know that each card within the 60 offers a competitive top deck draw".
So, what will happen tomorrow?
I am still in the wheelhouse of wanting to play one of the two "Tiny" Chandras. I'll add the other Chandra in here and speak to each (Not including 6 CMC Chandra, she's too far up the curve for this).
// Start Edit
What does Pia and Kira Nalaar do right?
I still want little chandra to work, and there is a part of me tempted to run a "Chandra" build instead of our creature package. Retain Eidolon in the board, retain Magus, but maybe not?
Edit 2: Attached image. Just a quick look at what it could look like.
We need to see this!!!!!
Special shout out to some of the more famous personalities I met, specifically Ali Antrazi and Todd Stevens. I casually met some others, but had a chance to have some meaningful conversations with both outside of "hey, how you doing....I'm a big fan". You guys were very cool and I really appreciated that despite being some of the more famous and high profile players in the game, you were still down to earth and "one of the guys". Also, Congratulations to Ben on winning the tournament! Halfway through out match, when we saw Eldrazi Tron was in the finals, I leaned over to Ben and whispered to him that if he beats me here, he's gonna win the whole thing. He played really well and Big Tron beats Little Tron....you know it's one of those rules of magic, #304.5a in the rulebook. Look up.
"Mulligan. 7 cards with no scry isn't all that different than 6 cards with a scry. For those doubters, I'll argue by example. Consider other decks which rely upon Leyline of Sanctity or Leyline of the Void. If they don't draw a leyline, but do draw a good hand, they'll keep it. But, if their starting hand is only average without a precious Leyline, which equals a free, uncounterable casting and what might be a free win against the right opponent, then they will certainly mulligan! The power lock suite in Pyro Prison can be even more lethal than a pre-game free casting of a Leyline. So, carefully study the makeup of your hand, and try to forecast its ramp out. A Blood Moon without a Mana Accelerator, Chalice of the Void, Tormenting Voice or Gemstone Caverns on the draw? Ship it."
In all the pages of this forum, that paragraph by Ray is the single most important one. If you want to play a moon on turn three, play something else. There were multiple times throughout the tournament were i was looking at three lands and a moon with no acceleration and I shipped it every time. Either your dead before you cast it, or it's getting countered along with your next 4 plays.
Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Cavenrs
2nd Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Cavenrs
3rd Best card of the tournament: Gemstone Caverns
This card led to more wins that I could remember. When exiling a card, remember that it's a mana ramp by itself. Evaluate your hand and make a smart choice about what to pitch. we only play 21 lands, so think long and hard before pitching a land to it. I often pitched a ritual to it if I had turn one chalice or another ritual effect and a turn one blood moon...God, feels great every time I say that...turn one blood moon. Concentrate Russ, back to the article....I even choose NOT to pitch a card to it on the draw in the quarter finals because I mulliganed to 5 game two ( I won that game).
Worst card of the day....Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Got sided out in almost every game and was only useful exactly once, more on that later. Not fast enough when you need to be the aggro deck and too slow when you need to be the control deck. They are really terrible. I know I'm being hard on them, but it's their own fault. They overstayed their welcome and now it's time for them to leave. Try don't have to go home, but they can't stay here. Gotta test something else in that slot. I was thinking more a prison theme in Icy Manipulator to tap down that pesky basic they always fetch first. It also costs 4, so it keep the curve exactly where it is. Then I considered something that could also add to the aggro package, like furnace whelp or dragon hatchling. Both have evasion, get under bridge, and can literally fireball your opponent EVERY Turn. Think about it, furnace whelp is a 2-power flyer also for 4 mana, same as Pia and Kiran, and it has fire-breathing. Hatchling costs only 2 mana, but does zero damage without the mana investment. If affinity can get under bridge and make their creature a 57/1, why can't we? Then I had another thought......Hammer of Bogardan. It's a burn spell, can tag a creature, and after opponent is locked out and it keeps coming back. It adds to the aggro package while also playing a control role. AND its got HAMMER in the name! Come on Ray....Hammer's Slammer...The picture on the card is a Hammer Slamming something....You know you want it. Plus, its from Mirage. Us old fogeys appreciate that, when mana burn was a thing and people were getting channel-fireballed to death...
Also considered Hangarback Walker. great defender, scales with the game, and then makes an army of flyers that get under bridge. Pia and Kiran are definitely going to be gone and is the only card in the 75 I would replace at this moment. what get put in its place, don't know yet....TO MTGO!!!
Round 1: Scapeshift.
For a match that was supposed to be one of our easiest, my deck entered HARD MODE and decided to try an win without any blood moon effects. That's a bold move Cotton and not a good strategy. Game one, on the play, vs an unknown opponent, I get an early chalice on one, an early bridge, and early planeswalker and then I took 4,286 damage from valaukt, just one point more than was needed to kill me.
Game two, he knows blood moon was somewhere lurking in the deep, so he sides in his creature package and I know it's coming. my opening hand had a chalice and a bridge. I've played this match a LOT because someone at my local game store plays this deck. If you rely on Blood Moon, the creature will crush you. If you rely on bridge, the lands will beat you. I figure 6 moons give me a better chance of drawing moon than leading on a moon and hoping to draw a bridge. Well, moon never showed up and we got a first round LOSS. Yep, I started this event 0-1
Round 2: Burn
Who needs Dragon's Claw? Am-I-Right? There is exactly one person on the planet who can beat this deck with a burn deck and it's my good friend John Harakidas. He practices with me all the time and he's a really good burn player. As such, we're about 50/50 in this match. Everyone else....no chance. this opponent was not my friend John, so it didn't go well for him. Turn one chalice on one, turn three moon. No more spells can be cast and we're off to game two.
Game two, gemstone Caverns on the draw, turn one, he suspends rift bolt, I play land go, he casts swiftspear on his second turn (wonder what he drew...hmmmm......), attempts to bolt me, abrade takes care of swiftspear, I take three, down to 14 and mental note that he just cast three 1-cc spells. My second turn was land #3 (thank you caverns), ritual, chalice on two. Game over. he doesn't cast another spell for the rest of the game.