I think I am going to ultimately settle on 2 Loxodon Smiter and one Thrun in the side board being able to change out my knight of the Reliquary when hitting graveyard removal
The more I think about the Leyline sideboard and your statement regarding it forcing you to mulligan good hands led me to think that...I don't think it should force us to do that. Sure, it's amazing in the opening hand, but if we draw into it, we should still be able to play it just fine, especially with Noble Hierarchs and what not.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
I went 3-0 at my local tourney and won it. However I didn't have my Knight of the Reliquary and was forced to play 2 copies of Flinthoof Boar instead, creating drama with what I should be having. The boar did some work tonight! What would you guys think would be best for the deck 2 Flinthoof Boar and one Knight of the Reliquary or should I just go 3 Knight of the Reliquary and no Flinthoof Boar. The Boar has option for haste and allows for adding pressure as soon as it comes into play.
Sword is super slow against burn. Not being able to get any value from it until turn 4 youre probably out of saving range by then.
Kor firewalker is the best answer out there...which is why im running 3.
That card on turn on turn 2 is basically game over. Dont ever block with it though, skullcrack will kill it
True, but you can play it on turn 2 and attack with it turn 3. It is definitely slow, but so good against so many other decks.
I've never liked kor firewalker since his super linear and only comes in against burn.
The more I think about the Leyline sideboard and your statement regarding it forcing you to mulligan good hands led me to think that...I don't think it should force us to do that. Sure, it's amazing in the opening hand, but if we draw into it, we should still be able to play it just fine, especially with Noble Hierarchs and what not.
I meant to say that if it is in your opening hand, but the rest of your hand is sketchy, you are probably forced to mulligan. Then its a dead draw late in the game, unless they removed the first one.
Its also purely reactive, while the rest of the deck is purely proactive, one of the main reasons I love playing this deck.
I went 3-0 at my local tourney and won it. However I didn't have my Knight of the Reliquary and was forced to play 2 copies of Flinthoof Boar instead, creating drama with what I should be having. The boar did some work tonight! What would you guys think would be best for the deck 2 Flinthoof Boar and one Knight of the Reliquary or should I just go 3 Knight of the Reliquary and no Flinthoof Boar. The Boar has option for haste and allows for adding pressure as soon as it comes into play.
It depends what the rest of your deck is doing. If you're really aggressive at putting opponents on the backfoot and down to low life then you may want boar for the haste.
If you take a more little midrange approach to things and want a threat that can keep up with the game, or want to make use of lands like steppes then you'd be better served with Knight
Zoo on video., although it's domain zoo and the lack of Geist seems strange. Become Immense seems interesting although without trample it strikes me as spinning wheels against decks more willing to interact than Jeskai
I think this is correct for my meta. Luckily, no one is playing Storm or Jeskai Combo so otherwise I'd be boarding in like a 2x of Rule of Law. Not sure what I would cut though if I were to see it.
Turns out my love of killing blue mages made me take a break from halloween for a second. I just randomly looked over mtgo goldfish and saw DELVER is overwhelmingly over played on mtgo, as well as burn (which Ive shown as beatable) With a little tweek to the side, and spurred on by that chali zoo, i'm confidant that right now is zoos time. mTruth is, with or without cruise, zoos matchup for delver is stupidly good. Add to the fact that twin, american control, gifts control, and scapeshift are everywhere too... Choke kills all of them. Right now is the PERFECT TIME (sans Glitter storm) to play zoo.
Look, Chalizoo isnt all that great... its using a zoo core and anti blue cards to win. Its just exploiting a hole in the meta, which I need to give it props. However, making our 75% positive matchup to delver, 95% doesnt make the deck better, Its just making all cruise players hate themselves. But its got some good points. Fallout it great right now, since it sweeps all but one glitter storms dorks, all of delvers dudes, all of affinitys and is good against some others too. VOice of reserchance and teeg are also probably safe adds as well.
Junk and jund have dropped to an all time low, and so is pod, as blue decks are gaining steam. this is zoo's best chance to do some damage.
Again, I find the chali zoo's trick cute as hell, but effective. I wont dis anyone for trying it, though I dont have much time myself. I generally think you can win with out chali too... but playing that thing for one against glitter storm does sound pretty funny to me.
Currently I decided, why not, and I'm playing a daily. After this I'll probably go back into my hiddie hole for a bit... but thought Id at least type whats happening as it comes.
Round 1: U/r Twin
Game 1 I kept a slow hand, and mulled to 5. I got him to 8, assuming he was delver, and then was comboed. If I left mana open I wouldnt have died. If I attacked with my lava mancer once earlier, and shocked him a turn earlier (I was waiting for his creatures to shock instead of his face, again, assuming delver.) I could have burned him out. I didnt, and fair play.
Game 2 I sided out 4 steppe lynxs in favor of 3 choke, 1 teeg. Hes not awesome against twin, but dig through time is something they play as a 3 of nowadays and teeg shuts that off. It also shuts of twin (something I actually completely forgot... I'm so used to it being anti wrath.) so its pretty safe. I mean... it buys you a turn... and is removal bait. But better than lynx against a deck that saw lynx so it knows to keep its twisted images in as well as runs 3 electrolize, 2 izzet charms.
I drew a hand that was balls to the walls aggro. Turn 1 nacatl, turn 2 goyf, turn 3 knight, and fetches. Guy probed me after I nacatled, and took his sweet time deciding what to do next. after playing a main phase charm next turn to dig and ditching dispell and peice, I know the guy did the math and saw Id have him to 5ish only on turn 4 when he combos so he opted to just go straight combo with speed, rather than wait to protect it. I mean I did have squat removal, so it all fits. Cept turn 2 I drew a path and I knew I had it. He went for it, and path snagged it away.
game 3
I opened a pretty alright hand. It had a goyf, path, basic plains, and a nacatl. I figure I have the makings to make him think I dont have basics and then play though blood moon, and I have aggression, so I'm probably fine, but he probes me so that plan got ditched. I drew choke and suddenly I know I can win the game... but he probes me again. So again, now I know hes going to keep that open mana for counters. But hey, that means Im going to be able to get a few hits in. Turn 3 I go for the choke, because while I know he has counter mana, keeping a mana open and casting a second goyf wouldnt really do much. Either my creatures will get there as is (they didnt quicken my turn clock) or hed waste removal on it, and Id land choke, or hed just counter, but it buys me a non combo and Id be dead turn to maybe get some burn. It hits the counter. Next turn I draw a second choke, and I know thats good news, maybe he doesnt have the second counter, and even if he does, it gets me yet another hit and hes burn range. He has remand, which means I get yet another hit in next turn. He manages to bolt away my board after and still untap, but I know Im still ahead, I have a goyf in hand, and choke, and I can cast both. I land the choke, and land the goyf. Its awaiting game from here, but as anything he does, kills his mana perminately, its just basicly over in slow motion. I get the concession.
Because choke. Is maybe one of my favorate card. Theres only one word on that peice of cardboard I dont like (island) but the after words roll so smooth off the tongue. Worth noting, game 2 I had teeg and didnt cast it. I was pretty far ahead in tempo that game, and I didnt wanna show him the teeg if I didnt have too. If things went south, I knew Id have at least a turn to land teeg and cut off 4 outta 5 peices he can combo with. Obvious MVPs is teeg who didnt do anything other than be insurance, and choke, who makes all the one sided rage possible.
Round Two: Boogles
I open a boarderline hand of 3 fetches, one steppe, one lynx and a pridemage. I figure, meh, I won the roll so theres a good chance that lynx will get in for about 10 on its own... so why not. Anything I draw, even land, is at worst pretty good. Then I see the dude mulled to 4 and I go "well, never mind. if this guy doesnt have a bolt I win." Its rough, but the dude played smart, revealed a fetch (verdant) and thats it. He learned what I was playing, I didnt.
Game 2. I assumed he was pod or junk based on the fetch, but I wasnt willing to put in cages. Molten rain seemed like a safe choice, so I ditched 2 helix for it. Then he played a slippery boggle. Crap. That thing was 14/14 in no time, and path was pretty crappy in my hand. I had a lynx and an ape, and eventually a lavamancer, so maybe I can race. At worst those guys could do some damage, and I can chump... sans lifelink, pro critters, flying, viggy, or trample. Either way I go for it, waiting until I was at 3 life and it was bigg enough to kill me to save back blockers (rip lynx, ape, and goyf.) but I got him low enough that when I managed to draw a fetch, I had 3 attackers to his 2 blockers, him at 7, with a lavamancer and bolt in hand. Math shows exacties. He fetched up a dryad arbor to block, and it was a good call. But I did say I had a path in hand that was rotting earlier, so still in attacks I got rid of it, hit for 2, (5 life, then he was dead to grim and bolt.
Probably shouldnt have won, and told the dude that, but he took it like a champ. decks got verance issues, we all know that.
Round 3: vs Affinity
Game 1 I managed to winpretty slimly. It basicly boiled down to me having removal, and him having a slow mana needed start. I knew early on that I was the control. Turn 1 grim, followed by a turn 2 bolt, with grim active, followed by a turn 3 knight. Knight would privide the food needed to be a removal machine, and then eventually kill him when he was outta gas.
Game 2 I sided out 2 rampagers and 2 lynx for 2 wear//tears and 2 fallouts. I opened a pretty meh hand with ape and a path and helix. I figured I shouldnt mull away removal and a body because its pretty good rather than game changeing. He had a good start, skrige into skite. I drew a fallout, and knew I'd hjave the edge if I could just get him to dump his hand and wipe it. I wanted to do it turn 3, on his turn, but he played smart and opted not to go all out. I had the choice to let him hit me for 5 and gain 5, or blow my fallout there... I decided that the 5 would be nothing if I managed to blow him out, so I took it. Next turn I attacked into skite, and passes with 4 lands. I guess he took my lack of removal last turn as the free win, and dropped 2 thopters and a overseer, to attack for 10, my full life total. I got what I needed since he took the bait and blew him out.
Course he still did a hell of a job stablizing with a champion and plating still on the field. I mmanaged to use my ace helix later on though to buff my life total high enough to stay ahead life total, and eventually win out the game with better beats.
Mvp here was fallout, but all the removal pulled their share of work. Again, the matchup is more or less 50-50, so theres a lot of skill involeved. I talked to the guy after about if he made any mistakes (he didnt) and talked about fallout.
Round 4: U/R delver
Speak of the delver himself. Showed up in the last rounds meaning it was 3-o prior. dude went very well earlier, I think more 2-0s than not. Anywho. I won the first game, pretty easily. I second, and just throw out nacatls, apes and knights. I had path (which I hate using early, but alas... had to) for young pyro here, but he got out a second one to stall me for a while. Still, I just eventually over ran him. Worth noting he did cast cruise on me... but it left him with 2 mana open, and nothing he could really do. I know he was playing forked bolts, which are great! just not super against us. I might try forked over grim... well see, anyways, he got enough spells off to make blockers, but I rampaged over it easly enough, dropping him to 1. From there It really didnt matter how many blockers he had. He couldnt attack my 14 life total with out being open too much, if I kept drawing bodies, i could keep threatening, and if I drew a bolt he was dead.
And I drew a bolt.
got to remember guys, tempo is a tempo deck, even with cruise. the card goes along way, but if they are still behind board state wise, all the card advantage isnt going to help them if their still dead on it. He had 6 cards that game.
Game 2 I died to swift spears. I had a fine hand. Lavamancers, ape, and nacatl, and ooze, but he played first so, swift spear, forked on nacatl. Attack, then bolt bolt on ape lava, attack, spear, bolt on ooze, attack. Nothing you can do. A (basicly) 4 bolt hand with a clock on the board is just unwinnable. if I was first, he wouldnt have had spear, mighta been a different story, so really it wasnt a great showing there. Easily could have been even tempo rather than not.
Game 3 was totally mine. I opened a ton of aggression. Ape, nacatl, ooze, choke, 3 lands. I even drew a lavamancer. I knew hed go after my beaters, and if I did a turn 2 lavamancer hed HAVE to get that thing off the field. So again, did what I needed too, he casted pyro, and bolt, netting him a blocker, so I knew I was in the clear. While choke only hit one land (he opted for 2 basic mountains, and 1 island, totally seeing my chokes last game with a probe) it still cut him off blue. Giving me a turn 4 ooze, who could become bolt proof. He got a fetch to cast cruise, and kept on making blockers (two pyros now) but goyf was anywhere from 2/3 to 4/5 that game, depending on delves and oozes. so it just bought time, nothing else. He even cruised again soon after, keeping his hand full and doing his best to make blockers. But ooze wouldnt let my life dip to his burn range, I didnt really care about goyf all that much, other than it killed a blocker every turn, and if a bolt got wasted on him, Id gain a life, (well 4. that bolt wouldnt be hitting my dome, his only way to win at this point) so I was in the clear.
He tried to time me out around here, but I had 17 minutes left on my play clock, so that plan didnt work out for him, and I won.
Mvp here was both lavamancer, ooze and choke. I guess goyf too. I didnt go into it much, but lavamancer got 2 shots off to kill blockers and grow ooze for me before he died. It made my goyf sad, but he was being chumped anyways so his size didnt matter as long as he was 1/2. Lavamancer put him behind enough that even with cruise refills it just didnt matter. I had the same amount of gas as him. and when he did die, he gave my ooze some of his power and me some of his life force. just worked out well.
Choke ofcourse, needs no intro here. it strained him off blue, making him only be able to cast 1 blue spell a turn, and it would always hurt him 1-3 life he did.
so, [size=4]4-0[/color] This better be reported. I never get reported. Like ever. Its really annoying. (Oh cool. I was top outta the 40 too.)
Heres the break down for ya all and my final thoughts.
Blue is everywhere. Zoo eats blue decks. Ive always said were a tier one deck if control and tempo are the best decks. They are. Feed your animals.
Run anti blue cards. I basicly had no jund/k hate in my side and I didnt really care. I probably have too much anti blue (fallout, teeg, choke) and probably will cut 1-2 of those for some anti midrange. Or maybe run some voices in my side. Its good against blue and midrange. Maybe I need to man up and get thruns. No clue here. But I'll say the main was solid. Lavamancer are great, but when they're not, you can side them out. Id love to try some voices main, but I'm too partal to ooze and pridemage. I have a feeling I should be trying to fit in 2-3 voices in that list. Id keep the side slots as 2 wear//tear (or revelry... until glitter storm is banned Id go with wear.) 2 molten rain, 3 choke, 2 fallout, 3 kor firewalker/dragon claw. that gives you 3 slots to fit in anti combo/pod/junk/jund. I wouldnt bother trying to make affinity, delver, scapeshift, tron, rdw or control better matchups. So something anti junk/d mostly, but with a good shot at hurting pod as well. any ides?
i may sound repetitive, but what you said about Delver is just what i experienced every time i played against it. Treasure Cruise doesn't get them the right answers to our threats in a lot of cases.
They just drop instants and sorceries to Young Pyromancer and Swiftspear to get in for Damage and Tokens.
Volcanic Fallout and Clasm wipes there board and they're not able to keep up with our bigger Dudes.
Hmm, Choke ? Isn't Blood Moon strictly better?
It's strong vs. Jund, Junk, Rock, UWR Midrange / Control, POD...and some others.
I know, it highly depends what your Deck looks like.
My Build only runs 3 Path and 4 Nacatl and BGx is my biggest problem right now, so I'd really like to include some copies in my Side
i may sound repetitive, but what you said about Delver is just what i experienced every time i played against it. Treasure Cruise doesn't get them the right answers to our threats in a lot of cases.
They just drop instants and sorceries to Young Pyromancer and Swiftspear to get in for Damage and Tokens.
Volcanic Fallout and Clasm wipes there board and they're not able to keep up with our bigger Dudes.
Hmm, Choke ? Isn't Blood Moon strictly better?
It's strong vs. Jund, Junk, Rock, UWR Midrange / Control, POD...and some others.
I know, it highly depends what your Deck looks like.
My Build only runs 3 Path and 4 Nacatl and BGx is my biggest problem right now, so I'd really like to include some copies in my Side
Choke is used differently than moon. One upside is moon kills off your lands too , choke does not. Choke kills off twin merfolk delver and control and blue moon. Moon does not (its actually playd in half those decks sideboard against you. Different role. Blood moon is also less effective now jund has better feteches and that junk is played more and they have a much better mana base. Im thinkin 2 or so thrun in the side is where i should be at.
Be a lemming hunter. Don't be a lemming. Really, all you had to do was explain to him the popularity metric, not give him the lemming hunter manifesto...
All day errry day. Easy easy tixs guys. If you arent on this, get on it, on mtgo every 3rd game I'm playing is delver, and every otrher one is a blue deck. right now I'm 2-0 in an 8 man, prior to that I was 4-0 in a daily. I played delver at the finals of the daily, and twice in this 8 man.
Edit: lost the final barely. He had a claim fot my choke. good stuff.
I think another ooze in the side could be what you're looking for. Hits lingering souls and finks/redcap. Alternatively Tormod's Crypt will do the same thing albeit less effectively, but it doesn't effect your curve and can help against the odd grave yard deck(Living End/Goryo). And of course Vines of Vastwood is always nice.
Been experimenting with different stuff online in tournament practice, this is what I'm on now. Really unsure about the sideboard.
Modern
Small Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/14-03-15-small-zoo/)
Green/White Hatebears (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-02-15-hate/)
Legacy
Affinity (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stega/)
Commander
Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/heavenly-inferno-revised/)
That's a Handful Nekusar, the Mindrazer (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thats-a-handful/)
Uprising Sliver Overlord (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/up-rising/)
Retired Decks
Jundassic (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundassic/)
Melira Pod (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-09-14-melira-pod/)
Dark Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-01-15-dark-naya-zoo/)
Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-10-14-my-zoo/)
Thanks, Jack
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
In the deck at the end of the prior page?
Well from what I can tell, when all your critters are Cats and you run 4 Cavern of Souls...
Modern
Small Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/14-03-15-small-zoo/)
Green/White Hatebears (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-02-15-hate/)
Legacy
Affinity (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stega/)
Commander
Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/heavenly-inferno-revised/)
That's a Handful Nekusar, the Mindrazer (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thats-a-handful/)
Uprising Sliver Overlord (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/up-rising/)
Retired Decks
Jundassic (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundassic/)
Melira Pod (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-09-14-melira-pod/)
Dark Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-01-15-dark-naya-zoo/)
Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-10-14-my-zoo/)
True, but you can play it on turn 2 and attack with it turn 3. It is definitely slow, but so good against so many other decks.
I've never liked kor firewalker since his super linear and only comes in against burn.
I meant to say that if it is in your opening hand, but the rest of your hand is sketchy, you are probably forced to mulligan. Then its a dead draw late in the game, unless they removed the first one.
Its also purely reactive, while the rest of the deck is purely proactive, one of the main reasons I love playing this deck.
It depends what the rest of your deck is doing. If you're really aggressive at putting opponents on the backfoot and down to low life then you may want boar for the haste.
If you take a more little midrange approach to things and want a threat that can keep up with the game, or want to make use of lands like steppes then you'd be better served with Knight
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29588_Brad-VS-Todd-Domain-Zoo-VS-Jeskai-Ascendancy.html
Zoo on video., although it's domain zoo and the lack of Geist seems strange. Become Immense seems interesting although without trample it strikes me as spinning wheels against decks more willing to interact than Jeskai
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Blood Moon
2x Choke
2x Stony Silence
2x Aven Mindcensor
I think this is correct for my meta. Luckily, no one is playing Storm or Jeskai Combo so otherwise I'd be boarding in like a 2x of Rule of Law. Not sure what I would cut though if I were to see it.
Modern
Small Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/14-03-15-small-zoo/)
Green/White Hatebears (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-02-15-hate/)
Legacy
Affinity (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stega/)
Commander
Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/heavenly-inferno-revised/)
That's a Handful Nekusar, the Mindrazer (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thats-a-handful/)
Uprising Sliver Overlord (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/up-rising/)
Retired Decks
Jundassic (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundassic/)
Melira Pod (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-09-14-melira-pod/)
Dark Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-01-15-dark-naya-zoo/)
Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-10-14-my-zoo/)
Look, Chalizoo isnt all that great... its using a zoo core and anti blue cards to win. Its just exploiting a hole in the meta, which I need to give it props. However, making our 75% positive matchup to delver, 95% doesnt make the deck better, Its just making all cruise players hate themselves. But its got some good points. Fallout it great right now, since it sweeps all but one glitter storms dorks, all of delvers dudes, all of affinitys and is good against some others too. VOice of reserchance and teeg are also probably safe adds as well.
Junk and jund have dropped to an all time low, and so is pod, as blue decks are gaining steam. this is zoo's best chance to do some damage.
Again, I find the chali zoo's trick cute as hell, but effective. I wont dis anyone for trying it, though I dont have much time myself. I generally think you can win with out chali too... but playing that thing for one against glitter storm does sound pretty funny to me.
Currently I decided, why not, and I'm playing a daily. After this I'll probably go back into my hiddie hole for a bit... but thought Id at least type whats happening as it comes.
Round 1: U/r Twin
Game 1 I kept a slow hand, and mulled to 5. I got him to 8, assuming he was delver, and then was comboed. If I left mana open I wouldnt have died. If I attacked with my lava mancer once earlier, and shocked him a turn earlier (I was waiting for his creatures to shock instead of his face, again, assuming delver.) I could have burned him out. I didnt, and fair play.
Game 2 I sided out 4 steppe lynxs in favor of 3 choke, 1 teeg. Hes not awesome against twin, but dig through time is something they play as a 3 of nowadays and teeg shuts that off. It also shuts of twin (something I actually completely forgot... I'm so used to it being anti wrath.) so its pretty safe. I mean... it buys you a turn... and is removal bait. But better than lynx against a deck that saw lynx so it knows to keep its twisted images in as well as runs 3 electrolize, 2 izzet charms.
I drew a hand that was balls to the walls aggro. Turn 1 nacatl, turn 2 goyf, turn 3 knight, and fetches. Guy probed me after I nacatled, and took his sweet time deciding what to do next. after playing a main phase charm next turn to dig and ditching dispell and peice, I know the guy did the math and saw Id have him to 5ish only on turn 4 when he combos so he opted to just go straight combo with speed, rather than wait to protect it. I mean I did have squat removal, so it all fits. Cept turn 2 I drew a path and I knew I had it. He went for it, and path snagged it away.
game 3
I opened a pretty alright hand. It had a goyf, path, basic plains, and a nacatl. I figure I have the makings to make him think I dont have basics and then play though blood moon, and I have aggression, so I'm probably fine, but he probes me so that plan got ditched. I drew choke and suddenly I know I can win the game... but he probes me again. So again, now I know hes going to keep that open mana for counters. But hey, that means Im going to be able to get a few hits in. Turn 3 I go for the choke, because while I know he has counter mana, keeping a mana open and casting a second goyf wouldnt really do much. Either my creatures will get there as is (they didnt quicken my turn clock) or hed waste removal on it, and Id land choke, or hed just counter, but it buys me a non combo and Id be dead turn to maybe get some burn. It hits the counter. Next turn I draw a second choke, and I know thats good news, maybe he doesnt have the second counter, and even if he does, it gets me yet another hit and hes burn range. He has remand, which means I get yet another hit in next turn. He manages to bolt away my board after and still untap, but I know Im still ahead, I have a goyf in hand, and choke, and I can cast both. I land the choke, and land the goyf. Its awaiting game from here, but as anything he does, kills his mana perminately, its just basicly over in slow motion. I get the concession.
Because choke. Is maybe one of my favorate card. Theres only one word on that peice of cardboard I dont like (island) but the after words roll so smooth off the tongue. Worth noting, game 2 I had teeg and didnt cast it. I was pretty far ahead in tempo that game, and I didnt wanna show him the teeg if I didnt have too. If things went south, I knew Id have at least a turn to land teeg and cut off 4 outta 5 peices he can combo with. Obvious MVPs is teeg who didnt do anything other than be insurance, and choke, who makes all the one sided rage possible.
Round Two: Boogles
I open a boarderline hand of 3 fetches, one steppe, one lynx and a pridemage. I figure, meh, I won the roll so theres a good chance that lynx will get in for about 10 on its own... so why not. Anything I draw, even land, is at worst pretty good. Then I see the dude mulled to 4 and I go "well, never mind. if this guy doesnt have a bolt I win." Its rough, but the dude played smart, revealed a fetch (verdant) and thats it. He learned what I was playing, I didnt.
Game 2. I assumed he was pod or junk based on the fetch, but I wasnt willing to put in cages. Molten rain seemed like a safe choice, so I ditched 2 helix for it. Then he played a slippery boggle. Crap. That thing was 14/14 in no time, and path was pretty crappy in my hand. I had a lynx and an ape, and eventually a lavamancer, so maybe I can race. At worst those guys could do some damage, and I can chump... sans lifelink, pro critters, flying, viggy, or trample. Either way I go for it, waiting until I was at 3 life and it was bigg enough to kill me to save back blockers (rip lynx, ape, and goyf.) but I got him low enough that when I managed to draw a fetch, I had 3 attackers to his 2 blockers, him at 7, with a lavamancer and bolt in hand. Math shows exacties. He fetched up a dryad arbor to block, and it was a good call. But I did say I had a path in hand that was rotting earlier, so still in attacks I got rid of it, hit for 2, (5 life, then he was dead to grim and bolt.
Probably shouldnt have won, and told the dude that, but he took it like a champ. decks got verance issues, we all know that.
Round 3: vs Affinity
Game 1 I managed to winpretty slimly. It basicly boiled down to me having removal, and him having a slow mana needed start. I knew early on that I was the control. Turn 1 grim, followed by a turn 2 bolt, with grim active, followed by a turn 3 knight. Knight would privide the food needed to be a removal machine, and then eventually kill him when he was outta gas.
Game 2 I sided out 2 rampagers and 2 lynx for 2 wear//tears and 2 fallouts. I opened a pretty meh hand with ape and a path and helix. I figured I shouldnt mull away removal and a body because its pretty good rather than game changeing. He had a good start, skrige into skite. I drew a fallout, and knew I'd hjave the edge if I could just get him to dump his hand and wipe it. I wanted to do it turn 3, on his turn, but he played smart and opted not to go all out. I had the choice to let him hit me for 5 and gain 5, or blow my fallout there... I decided that the 5 would be nothing if I managed to blow him out, so I took it. Next turn I attacked into skite, and passes with 4 lands. I guess he took my lack of removal last turn as the free win, and dropped 2 thopters and a overseer, to attack for 10, my full life total. I got what I needed since he took the bait and blew him out.
Course he still did a hell of a job stablizing with a champion and plating still on the field. I mmanaged to use my ace helix later on though to buff my life total high enough to stay ahead life total, and eventually win out the game with better beats.
Mvp here was fallout, but all the removal pulled their share of work. Again, the matchup is more or less 50-50, so theres a lot of skill involeved. I talked to the guy after about if he made any mistakes (he didnt) and talked about fallout.
Round 4: U/R delver
Speak of the delver himself. Showed up in the last rounds meaning it was 3-o prior. dude went very well earlier, I think more 2-0s than not. Anywho. I won the first game, pretty easily. I second, and just throw out nacatls, apes and knights. I had path (which I hate using early, but alas... had to) for young pyro here, but he got out a second one to stall me for a while. Still, I just eventually over ran him. Worth noting he did cast cruise on me... but it left him with 2 mana open, and nothing he could really do. I know he was playing forked bolts, which are great! just not super against us. I might try forked over grim... well see, anyways, he got enough spells off to make blockers, but I rampaged over it easly enough, dropping him to 1. From there It really didnt matter how many blockers he had. He couldnt attack my 14 life total with out being open too much, if I kept drawing bodies, i could keep threatening, and if I drew a bolt he was dead.
And I drew a bolt.
got to remember guys, tempo is a tempo deck, even with cruise. the card goes along way, but if they are still behind board state wise, all the card advantage isnt going to help them if their still dead on it. He had 6 cards that game.
Game 2 I died to swift spears. I had a fine hand. Lavamancers, ape, and nacatl, and ooze, but he played first so, swift spear, forked on nacatl. Attack, then bolt bolt on ape lava, attack, spear, bolt on ooze, attack. Nothing you can do. A (basicly) 4 bolt hand with a clock on the board is just unwinnable. if I was first, he wouldnt have had spear, mighta been a different story, so really it wasnt a great showing there. Easily could have been even tempo rather than not.
Game 3 was totally mine. I opened a ton of aggression. Ape, nacatl, ooze, choke, 3 lands. I even drew a lavamancer. I knew hed go after my beaters, and if I did a turn 2 lavamancer hed HAVE to get that thing off the field. So again, did what I needed too, he casted pyro, and bolt, netting him a blocker, so I knew I was in the clear. While choke only hit one land (he opted for 2 basic mountains, and 1 island, totally seeing my chokes last game with a probe) it still cut him off blue. Giving me a turn 4 ooze, who could become bolt proof. He got a fetch to cast cruise, and kept on making blockers (two pyros now) but goyf was anywhere from 2/3 to 4/5 that game, depending on delves and oozes. so it just bought time, nothing else. He even cruised again soon after, keeping his hand full and doing his best to make blockers. But ooze wouldnt let my life dip to his burn range, I didnt really care about goyf all that much, other than it killed a blocker every turn, and if a bolt got wasted on him, Id gain a life, (well 4. that bolt wouldnt be hitting my dome, his only way to win at this point) so I was in the clear.
He tried to time me out around here, but I had 17 minutes left on my play clock, so that plan didnt work out for him, and I won.
Mvp here was both lavamancer, ooze and choke. I guess goyf too. I didnt go into it much, but lavamancer got 2 shots off to kill blockers and grow ooze for me before he died. It made my goyf sad, but he was being chumped anyways so his size didnt matter as long as he was 1/2. Lavamancer put him behind enough that even with cruise refills it just didnt matter. I had the same amount of gas as him. and when he did die, he gave my ooze some of his power and me some of his life force. just worked out well.
Choke ofcourse, needs no intro here. it strained him off blue, making him only be able to cast 1 blue spell a turn, and it would always hurt him 1-3 life he did.
so, [size=4]4-0[/color] This better be reported. I never get reported. Like ever. Its really annoying. (Oh cool. I was top outta the 40 too.)
Heres the break down for ya all and my final thoughts.
Blue is everywhere. Zoo eats blue decks. Ive always said were a tier one deck if control and tempo are the best decks. They are. Feed your animals.
Run anti blue cards. I basicly had no jund/k hate in my side and I didnt really care. I probably have too much anti blue (fallout, teeg, choke) and probably will cut 1-2 of those for some anti midrange. Or maybe run some voices in my side. Its good against blue and midrange. Maybe I need to man up and get thruns. No clue here. But I'll say the main was solid. Lavamancer are great, but when they're not, you can side them out. Id love to try some voices main, but I'm too partal to ooze and pridemage. I have a feeling I should be trying to fit in 2-3 voices in that list. Id keep the side slots as 2 wear//tear (or revelry... until glitter storm is banned Id go with wear.) 2 molten rain, 3 choke, 2 fallout, 3 kor firewalker/dragon claw. that gives you 3 slots to fit in anti combo/pod/junk/jund. I wouldnt bother trying to make affinity, delver, scapeshift, tron, rdw or control better matchups. So something anti junk/d mostly, but with a good shot at hurting pod as well. any ides?
i may sound repetitive, but what you said about Delver is just what i experienced every time i played against it.
Treasure Cruise doesn't get them the right answers to our threats in a lot of cases.
They just drop instants and sorceries to Young Pyromancer and Swiftspear to get in for Damage and Tokens.
Volcanic Fallout and Clasm wipes there board and they're not able to keep up with our bigger Dudes.
Hmm, Choke ? Isn't Blood Moon strictly better?
It's strong vs. Jund, Junk, Rock, UWR Midrange / Control, POD...and some others.
I know, it highly depends what your Deck looks like.
My Build only runs 3 Path and 4 Nacatl and BGx is my biggest problem right now, so I'd really like to include some copies in my Side
Green @ it's best
Choke is used differently than moon. One upside is moon kills off your lands too , choke does not. Choke kills off twin merfolk delver and control and blue moon. Moon does not (its actually playd in half those decks sideboard against you. Different role. Blood moon is also less effective now jund has better feteches and that junk is played more and they have a much better mana base. Im thinkin 2 or so thrun in the side is where i should be at.
No goyf in this list
Looks strange to me
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=75170
Be a lemming hunter. Don't be a lemming.
Really, all you had to do was explain to him the popularity metric, not give him the lemming hunter manifesto...
Originally posted by MemoryLapse and DotMatrix
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
The arid mesa count is low, and those are the not reprinted fetches... no goyf but an upped count of pridemages and oozes. Yep. Budget.
All day errry day. Easy easy tixs guys. If you arent on this, get on it, on mtgo every 3rd game I'm playing is delver, and every otrher one is a blue deck. right now I'm 2-0 in an 8 man, prior to that I was 4-0 in a daily. I played delver at the finals of the daily, and twice in this 8 man.
Edit: lost the final barely. He had a claim fot my choke. good stuff.
Been experimenting with different stuff online in tournament practice, this is what I'm on now. Really unsure about the sideboard.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wold Run
Creature(23)
3 Grim Lavamancer
1 Loam Lion
4 Kird Ape
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Mutagenic Growth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Helix
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Stony Silence
3 Kor Firewalker
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Hushwing Gryff
2 Molten Rain
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Choke
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
Mana Curve
Creature / Other
1cc 12 / 10
2cc 7 / 6
3cc 3 / 0
4cc 1 / 0
Color Composition
W 16
R 18
G 15
WG 5
WR 6
RG 1
4 Loam Lion
4 Kird Ape
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Dryad Militant (testing)
3 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
2 Boros Charm
2 Jeskai Charm (testing)
3 Tribal Flame
1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Scalding Tarn
2 WindSwept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
SB is still shaky. Not sure if 20 lands vs 21 is better. Jeskai charm seems powerful.