Has anyone done any testing with Garruk, Apex Predator? I feel like he can be back breaking in the mirror MU with destroy target walker, having a 3/3 with deathtouch and even killing an opponent's Siege Rhino and gaining 5 life. All of that seems really relevant. Any thoughts on him?
My friend plays with a solo Garruk mainboard, and says that he's quite useful every time he gets him out. Expensive though.
What situations was he in that it was good? Was he ever a dead draw? Or did he swing the game immediately upon playing iy? For his cost, there should be a good answer to those questions. Personally I really want to test him but I want to get some insight on peoples experiences.
On paper he seems really nice but what is there besides 'good but expensive'.
What situations was he in that it was good? Was he ever a dead draw? Or did he swing the game immediately upon playing iy? For his cost, there should be a good answer to those questions. Personally I really want to test him but I want to get some insight on peoples experiences.
On paper he seems really nice but what is there besides 'good but expensive'.
I have never played him, but my theory crafting says he would be great in the mirror and strong against G/x monsters. His -3 can be a game changer if you hit a large polukranos, or even just swat a storm breath out of the sky. That being said I think Elspeth has a bigger chance to swing games. Might be worth a 1-of in the board. Against many of the other decks he feels kind of dead though.
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
What situations was he in that it was good? Was he ever a dead draw? Or did he swing the game immediately upon playing iy? For his cost, there should be a good answer to those questions. Personally I really want to test him but I want to get some insight on peoples experiences.
On paper he seems really nice but what is there besides 'good but expensive'.
I have never played him, but my theory crafting says he would be great in the mirror and strong against G/x monsters. His -3 can be a game changer if you hit a large polukranos, or even just swat a storm breath out of the sky. That being said I think Elspeth has a bigger chance to swing games. Might be worth a 1-of in the board. Against many of the other decks he feels kind of dead though.
That is kind of what I was thinking with that. I think I should just go get him and test it. Although the MU is already really good against Monsters I need to improve my mirror. So I think I will look there. Hopefully I can get one before Friday and come back with some results
Geez, now Vanmeter's changes for Wingmate in the main is the same as mine too.
I'm hating how the match up for aggro against the midrange cousin is still very dependent on your opening hand and not on your draws. I'm still experimenting to find some happy medium where I'm still aggro but with a bit more top end so I don't lose to midrange and G/x devotion game one.
Kekule_the_Magician on the inclusion of Devouring Light in a TurboFog Deck:
Quote from Kekule_the_Magician »
As a person who typically plays very creature oriented decks, I HATE when an opponent has Devouring Light. It is infuriating to finally get through with a creature on to have it exiled.
I've come to hate White in general now because it gets everything to the point where it is almost unfair. White has boardwipes (Wrath of God, End Hostilities), targeted exile and removal (Devouring Light, Banishing Light, Last Breath), lifegain spells, lifelink, low cost/high power enchantments and auras, flying creatures; my goodness what don't they get!?
Jessica Burn sounds like a pornstar... I'm all for it. Anyway, is there a definitive SB guide for Abzan midrange?
I'm joining a GPT this weekend and I've only played in one sanctioned tourney so far (mostly playtested with my friends who have Boss Sligh, Abzan Reanimator, and Uw control) also been playtesting on untap.in vs Jeskai and feel ready enough for that.
What I'm looking for is what is the ideal SB plan/cards for the matchups below? (let's assume a stock abzan midrange list for now)
Jeskai Ascendancy
G/x Devotion
Temur Midrange
BW Midrange/Control
UB Control
Sultai/Sidisi Whip
RW Tokens
Mardu Midrange
Anafenza is strong against Sidisi. Drown in sorrow is good against all token generator decks. From reading around, Jeskai Ascendancy wasn't much of a thing at GP LA, all you really need is erase or a way to kill their dorks and they lose. You can pull some nifty tricks if you bile blight your own caryatid to kill theirs.
I don't think UB control will be a big thing, but Sorin and Nissa are the best tools there. If Sorin ultimates, UB control cannot win. Nissa is just pure card advantage thing against them and is just crushing. Once Nissa hits, they have 2-3 turns to get 2 different pieces of removals before they die.
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
I'm going to try this version of the deck tomorrow at fnm. Main deck plays well. I just need to figure out what to optimize in the sb and what to take out against what. Any opinions on the sb?
Chapin's article detailed his changes to the mana base. No Confluence, only 3 trilands, and more scrylands (B/W in particular).
Has anyone been using this manabase over the one Ari Lax is using? I like going up to 25, but Chapin's mana just seems like it has too many taplands. How does it play out in actual games?
Kekule_the_Magician on the inclusion of Devouring Light in a TurboFog Deck:
Quote from Kekule_the_Magician »
As a person who typically plays very creature oriented decks, I HATE when an opponent has Devouring Light. It is infuriating to finally get through with a creature on to have it exiled.
I've come to hate White in general now because it gets everything to the point where it is almost unfair. White has boardwipes (Wrath of God, End Hostilities), targeted exile and removal (Devouring Light, Banishing Light, Last Breath), lifegain spells, lifelink, low cost/high power enchantments and auras, flying creatures; my goodness what don't they get!?
What was his reasoning for not playimg Roc? I feel he is one of the major players in the mirror match. I just don't like mystic, it becomes a terrible top deck, you usually do not play him turn one, and T2 you would rather play Caryatid.
I'm not convinced Hornet Nest is better than End Hostilities vs Green Devotion. Unless you blow up their board, they will get to either Nylea or Hornet Queen.
For Monsters, Hornet Nest is ok, but Temur Charm is a thing and they generally come out of the gates pretty fast. IMO, removal is far better to bring in versus Monsters because if you draw Hornet Nest any time after you've gotten hit once or twice, it is way worse than drawing a removal card like Murderous Cut.
Another thing for control is Stain the Mind. Control lists tend to run Pearl Lake Ancient as their finisher and if you find a window for Stain, you just win the game.
I still run Unravel the Aether over Erase because of the corner application of also hitting Perilous Vault.
I might find room for a Anafenza if testing shows the whip deck being really strong versus my list, but Ari's testing concluded the whip decks weren't good enough to devote a sideboard card just for that matchup.
I don't claim to be good at this game, but the only match I lost in Day 2 of GP LA was to Brian Kibler, and he saw my sideboarded in Hornet Nest and said that was the card he feared the most in this format. He was playing Temur monsters. You can take that for whatever it's worth.
Right, I acknowledged Hornet Nest is good versus Monsters, however Nest is way worse than removal in many cases, especially if they have hit you a few times. Having an early Nest is pretty good vs Monsters.
However, I'm not sold on Nest in the sideboard while green devotion is still a deck. Seeing how Monsters won the most recent event, green devotion is primed for a resurgence given that they are pretty good vs Monsters.
Has anyone done any testing with Garruk, Apex Predator? I feel like he can be back breaking in the mirror MU with destroy target walker, having a 3/3 with deathtouch and even killing an opponent's Siege Rhino and gaining 5 life. All of that seems really relevant. Any thoughts on him?
he seems brutal. with courser i can not think of any reason not to run at least 1 maybe 2.
I don't claim to be good at this game, but the only match I lost in Day 2 of GP LA was to Brian Kibler, and he saw my sideboarded in Hornet Nest and said that was the card he feared the most in this format. He was playing Temur monsters. You can take that for whatever it's worth.
There are of course other options, but those are what I chose and they worked well for me.
Kibler's particular list would have trouble against Hornet Nest. Most of the big damage creatures he has are on the ground (all but Ashcloud Phoenix which isn't even that threatening to us) and every way he has to remove it is damage based. A single Hornet Nest would do serious work against him.
I actually am worried about this match-up since their creatures can stretch our removal thin by each requiring specific ones and they have good threat density that our own creatures can't go into combat favorably with. I've had many close games with this archetype and I'm still on the End Hostilities + Thoughtseize plan. Thoughtseize helps you disrupt them early so you can pressure them while they defend with mana creatures and late game it can clear the way for an End Hostilities (because there's nothing worse than seeing that Hornet Queen they've been saving after an End Hostilities).
Sideboard (15) 3 End Hostilities (Big green lists like G/Gx Devotion, Monsters, Abzan Mirror) 1 Duneblast (Big green, Abzan Mirror) 4 Drown in Sorrow (1-drop aggro) 1 Bow of Nylea (any creature stall, Jeskai Burn) 1 Whip of Erebos (aggro or when I think the reanimation can be good) 2 Stain the Mind (Jeskai Ascendancy) 2 Erase (Constellation, Jeskai Ascendancy, Banishing Light) 1 Silence the Believers (Stormbreath Dragon insurance or in board stalls)
Played against Mardu Midrange (2-0), Boros Control (2-1), Sultai Control (2-0) and Rabble Red (2-1).
Of note was that Thoughtseize is strong in this deck. I used it mainly to clear the path for a win condition but it also came in handy to disrupt plans like End Hostilities, which white decks are picking up against us.
Also of note was that Elspeth, Sun's Champion underperformed in some games. For 6 mana, she sometimes was quickly overcome by fliers, Hero's Downfall and Fated Conflagration. I'm thinking about switching the third out for something lower on the curve. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes of Liliana Vess come to mind first. I think Liliana Vess may fit better because she is more oppressive and I actually like making my opponent play off the top of their deck.
Finally, Drown in Sorrow was hilarious against the rabble red deck. Easy win when that gets cast.
This is obviously built off Chapin's deck with some key changes depending on the meta I expected:
+1 Caves of Koilos, -1 Temple of Silence: I'm not really comfortable playing 11 ETB tapped lands. It just seems so.... slow, to be honest, and I'd rather have a little less. Hence the painland for scryland swap. Heck, I even thought that 10 was still one too many but I didn't want to mess with the manabase so much so I left it at that.
MD/SB Swap: 2 Drown for a Downfall and a Thoughtseize - Boss Sligh was everywhere I looked. Like.... everywhere. So I made this last-minute change to give myself a little more hope against that deck G1. Not sure if the swap was correct, again, last-minute.
So I was right about that expected deck - I think roughly 40% of the people were playing red aggressive decks. Of course, having luck like I do, I manage to get paired with none of them. At all. Heck, I didn't even play anyone with the second most popular deck (Abzan). Well.
R1: UR Ensoul Artifact.dec (L 1-2): Game 1 is T3 Rhino, T4 Sorin, T5 Elspeth, T6 Roc thanks to a Sylvan Caryatid and he scoops. We play a tough G2 where I race his Ghostfire Blade'd Ornithopter with 2 Courser of Kruphix, hoping for lands off the top so I can pull ahead in the race. Instead I keep drawing Siege Rhino and Sorin, but he has the Disdainful Strokes in hand and finishes me off with Shrapnel Blast.
G3 is where I think I made an error. His T1 is land, Ornithopter. Ghostfire Blade. On my T2 there are two lines of play I can take - play an untapped land and Bile Blight the Ornithopter before it equips, or Thoughtseize, get info, and play a scryland. I take the second line, and get presented with a hand of Stoke the Flames, Shrapnel Blast and Lightning Strike + land. I take one of the burn spells, and we proceed to race each other, again Ornithopter vs. Courser. I have god knows how many turns to draw an answer to the Ornithopter, but do not, and eventually lose when he finally finds the Ensoul Artifact to deal more damage per turn than I can. Ornithopter was the only creature he drew that game (until that Ensoul really late), and in hindsight I believe I would've won if I just killed it on T2 (the burn spells just got Negate'd by Courser + land drops). After the game I was talking to a friend and he believes I should've killed that Thopter on T2. Up to now I'm still not sure if I took the correct line or not.
Oh well.
R2: Jeskai Aggro/Wins/Skies/Burn/Tempo/whatever (W 2-0): Having played this matchup countless of times now this was a pretty routine pair of games. Rhino and Sorin do him in G1, and in G2 I just kill everything in sight and swing with Courser + Wingmate Roc. Keeping them on the burn plan and not letting Mantis Rider do any work seems to be how to beat them, I guess.
R3: Whidisi (whatever Christian Seibold played at the Pro Tour) (W 2-0): We ground stall game 1 and I beat him with a 3/4 bird token and 2/2 vampire for several turns until he topdecks Whip of Erebos. Gets some value out of it, and I Read the Bones + Abzan Charm my way into those Utter Ends to take that out. G2 wasn't really interesting, I play T3 Rhino and he manages to mill out TWO Whips without a way to get them back. Oh well.
R4: Temur Aggro (L 0-2): Mull to 6, and am done in when he goes Ashcloud-Bestow Satyr-Sarkhan, too much flying killing me. G2 I manage to stabilize with a End Hostilities to catch his Knuckleblade without enough mana to bounce, and look to take control over the next few turns.... then he rips his 4th Knuckleblade off the top of his deck, while I try to draw some cards to dig for answers. They give me Thoughtseize and lands, and the next attack + Crater's Claws is enough to knock me out.
R5: Temur Aggro (W 2-0): I eke out G1 after a Drown in Sorrow hit like 3 mana dorks and tries to rebuild his board, meanwhile I draw 4 lands off the top. Thankfully, I kept his fliers at bay with removal, and a lucky Elspeth topdeck manages to keep the Knuckleblades at bay. The Elspeth tokens give me the time I needed to play some Coursers/Rhinos and he scoops the turn before I can ult and swing. In G2, he goes T1 Elf, T2 Rattleclaw + Elf and I Thoughtseize his hand to see what he's ramping into. Boon Satyr, Surrak, Stormbreath. Painful.... oh, wait, I have End Hostilities. He drops 2 of the beaters as expected and gets me down to 6 before I clear the board. Stuck at 2 mana and me with as many lands as needed, he dies after I go Courser + Caryatid, Rhino next turn, Roc the next turn while his 4th land ETB tapped with a Phoenix in hand.
R6: R/G Monsters (W 2-1): At this point we do some math and realize that one of us can still sneak into Top 8 provided the other matches go our way so we play it out. I lose G1 to a curve of Xenagos-Stormbreath-Stormbreath-Sarkhan, too much haste damage there. G2 I win with the nut curve of T3 Rhino, T4 Roc, T5 Elspeth, T6 Sorin, gaining an unhealthy amount of life to just pull ahead against his monsters. He gets his curve as usual in G3, but it's a little to reliant on mana dorks, and once again End Hostilities puts him so far behind and I mop it up with Rhino + Courser beatdown after.
After all the rounds were played I placed something like 10th, and sure enough, there was indeed one X-2 who snuck in at 8th. Too bad. UR Robots dude hit T8, though, and was in T4 before we left, kinda feels nice when the guy who beat you ended up beating pretty much everyone else, heh.
I'm going to another tournament tomorrow that awards a hefty amount of cash prize and will probably break 200+ players, so I'll revert back to the original Chapin list + my small change in lands. I also have 1 less Nissa than him in my 75 (a 3rd Drown in its place) and this is because pretty much no one plays that U/B deck around here, where Nissa is really amazing.
I think I have a better feel for the Temur/RG matchups now. I seem to win whenever I just kill their flyers and just try to keep up with Savage Knuckleblade when before I was focusing on getting that fake Aetherling off the table. Not sure if this is how to do it, anyone with more insight into the Temur Aggro and RG Monsters matchups?
In game 2 my opponent had 2 land for a long time, and I had out 3 Rhinos. Unfortunately, they also had out MAINDECKED 3 Soldier of the Pantheon. My deck rewarded me with Rhinos, Utter Ends and Abzan Charms.
My FNM report will come a bit later. 1-3. Like I mentioned earlier.. regardless of record, or deck, various pieces of information can still prove to be useful. Also, my FNM store regularly has upwards of 200 people playing and so the only meta I can detect is, "I sure seem to be playing against a lot of X decks tonight."
I quoted the above because in mentioning it to a friend I found out some info that frustrates me further over that disappointing day
It also explains why some of you may be thinking the comment is confusing...
Ultimately, it's so anyone else that isn't aware of this interaction... becomes aware.
Protection from the Rhino only reduces damage to what the creature can normally take, because of trample. I thought the Soldier would reduce damage to 0, and so I didn't attack at all with my Rhinos. Had I been attacking with them, each Soldier/Rhino block would have yielded 3 damage to my opponent.
Oh well. 1-3 is the same as 0-4 in my book.
Also, since this happened in the match and I'm bringing up the trample interaction...
Trample has to do lethal damage to all blockers before it can carry over to the opponent.
[EDIT: One damage is lethal to the Soldier, it can just reduce it to 0. This is for when you're x-blocked.]
On paper he seems really nice but what is there besides 'good but expensive'.
I have never played him, but my theory crafting says he would be great in the mirror and strong against G/x monsters. His -3 can be a game changer if you hit a large polukranos, or even just swat a storm breath out of the sky. That being said I think Elspeth has a bigger chance to swing games. Might be worth a 1-of in the board. Against many of the other decks he feels kind of dead though.
That is kind of what I was thinking with that. I think I should just go get him and test it. Although the MU is already really good against Monsters I need to improve my mirror. So I think I will look there. Hopefully I can get one before Friday and come back with some results
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Geez, now Vanmeter's changes for Wingmate in the main is the same as mine too.
I'm hating how the match up for aggro against the midrange cousin is still very dependent on your opening hand and not on your draws. I'm still experimenting to find some happy medium where I'm still aggro but with a bit more top end so I don't lose to midrange and G/x devotion game one.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Abzan Classic beats Abzan Aggro.
Abzan Aggro beats Abzan Unwritten Whip.
Abzan Unwritten Whip beats Abzan Classic.
At least Abzan.any beats Jessica Burn at this point
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Nailed it. lol Jessica Burn Lets use that.
I'm joining a GPT this weekend and I've only played in one sanctioned tourney so far (mostly playtested with my friends who have Boss Sligh, Abzan Reanimator, and Uw control) also been playtesting on untap.in vs Jeskai and feel ready enough for that.
What I'm looking for is what is the ideal SB plan/cards for the matchups below? (let's assume a stock abzan midrange list for now)
Jeskai Ascendancy
G/x Devotion
Temur Midrange
BW Midrange/Control
UB Control
Sultai/Sidisi Whip
RW Tokens
Mardu Midrange
I don't think UB control will be a big thing, but Sorin and Nissa are the best tools there. If Sorin ultimates, UB control cannot win. Nissa is just pure card advantage thing against them and is just crushing. Once Nissa hits, they have 2-3 turns to get 2 different pieces of removals before they die.
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Wingmate Roc
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Garruk, Apex Predator
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Abzan Charm
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
2 Utter End
1 Caves of Koilos
3 Forest
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mana Confluence
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
1 Duneblast
2 Drown in Sorrow
2 End Hostilities
1 Liliana Vess
1 Muderous Cut
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Silence the Believers
1 Whip of Erebos
Has anyone been using this manabase over the one Ari Lax is using? I like going up to 25, but Chapin's mana just seems like it has too many taplands. How does it play out in actual games?
Also, more Abzan resources: Todd Anderson is in on the Abzan train, here. No Wingmate Roc in his build, but the full playset of Elvish Mystic. Here: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29576_Everything-You-Should-Know-About-Abzan-Midrange.html
I got you
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Abzan Charm
1 Utter End
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Thoughtseize
4 Temple of Malady
1 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
2 Plains
3 Forest
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Death Frenzy
1 Murderous Cut
2 Duneblast
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
4 Drown in Sorrow
3 Bile Blight
1 Thoughtseize
1 Liliana Vess
EDH Decks
Thanks To DarkNightCavalier For the Sig!!!
For G/x Devotion and Temur...Hornet Nest
For Control...Nissa, Worldwaker
For Reanimator...Anafenza, the Foremost
For Tokens...Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow
Mardu we should beat anyway
For Monsters, Hornet Nest is ok, but Temur Charm is a thing and they generally come out of the gates pretty fast. IMO, removal is far better to bring in versus Monsters because if you draw Hornet Nest any time after you've gotten hit once or twice, it is way worse than drawing a removal card like Murderous Cut.
Another thing for control is Stain the Mind. Control lists tend to run Pearl Lake Ancient as their finisher and if you find a window for Stain, you just win the game.
I still run Unravel the Aether over Erase because of the corner application of also hitting Perilous Vault.
I might find room for a Anafenza if testing shows the whip deck being really strong versus my list, but Ari's testing concluded the whip decks weren't good enough to devote a sideboard card just for that matchup.
My list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-10-14-MnN-abzan-midrange/
You need Bile Blights or Drown in Sorrows for Hornet Queen, but if you hold on to an Abzan Charm, you can remove Nylea, God of the Hunt when they attack.
There are of course other options, but those are what I chose and they worked well for me.
However, I'm not sold on Nest in the sideboard while green devotion is still a deck. Seeing how Monsters won the most recent event, green devotion is primed for a resurgence given that they are pretty good vs Monsters.
he seems brutal. with courser i can not think of any reason not to run at least 1 maybe 2.
Kibler's particular list would have trouble against Hornet Nest. Most of the big damage creatures he has are on the ground (all but Ashcloud Phoenix which isn't even that threatening to us) and every way he has to remove it is damage based. A single Hornet Nest would do serious work against him.
Now, people may copy his list going forwards because it was successful, but the more common Gr(u) monsters lists I see run 2-4 Stormbreath Dragon, 2-4 Polukranos, World Eater, 1-2 Hornet Queen just for us, and some number of Ashcloud Phoenix with a couple Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker as their "monsters". Only Polukranos actually cares about Hornet Nest.
I actually am worried about this match-up since their creatures can stretch our removal thin by each requiring specific ones and they have good threat density that our own creatures can't go into combat favorably with. I've had many close games with this archetype and I'm still on the End Hostilities + Thoughtseize plan. Thoughtseize helps you disrupt them early so you can pressure them while they defend with mana creatures and late game it can clear the way for an End Hostilities (because there's nothing worse than seeing that Hornet Queen they've been saving after an End Hostilities).
UBRGrixis Kiki Control
BGUSultai Shadow
GWRBushwhacker Zoo
EDH:
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose
GWU Roon of the Hidden Realm
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
2 Wingmate Roc
Planeswalkers (5)
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Instants/Sorceries (13)
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Abzan Charm
1 Utter End
4 Thoughtseize
3 Forest
3 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
1 Mana Confluence
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Sandsteppe Citidel
3 Temple of Silence
3 Temple of Malady
3 End Hostilities (Big green lists like G/Gx Devotion, Monsters, Abzan Mirror)
1 Duneblast (Big green, Abzan Mirror)
4 Drown in Sorrow (1-drop aggro)
1 Bow of Nylea (any creature stall, Jeskai Burn)
1 Whip of Erebos (aggro or when I think the reanimation can be good)
2 Stain the Mind (Jeskai Ascendancy)
2 Erase (Constellation, Jeskai Ascendancy, Banishing Light)
1 Silence the Believers (Stormbreath Dragon insurance or in board stalls)
Played against Mardu Midrange (2-0), Boros Control (2-1), Sultai Control (2-0) and Rabble Red (2-1).
Of note was that Thoughtseize is strong in this deck. I used it mainly to clear the path for a win condition but it also came in handy to disrupt plans like End Hostilities, which white decks are picking up against us.
Also of note was that Elspeth, Sun's Champion underperformed in some games. For 6 mana, she sometimes was quickly overcome by fliers, Hero's Downfall and Fated Conflagration. I'm thinking about switching the third out for something lower on the curve. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes of Liliana Vess come to mind first. I think Liliana Vess may fit better because she is more oppressive and I actually like making my opponent play off the top of their deck.
Finally, Drown in Sorrow was hilarious against the rabble red deck. Easy win when that gets cast.
UBRGrixis Kiki Control
BGUSultai Shadow
GWRBushwhacker Zoo
EDH:
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose
GWU Roon of the Hidden Realm
3 Temple of Silence
3 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
2 Plains
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
2 Wingmate Roc
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Thoughtseize
1 Read the Bones
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Drown in Sorrow
2 Utter End
4 Abzan Charm
1 Erase
1 Thoughtseize
3 Bile Blight
1 Drown in Sorrow
1 Read the Bones
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Murderous Cut
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Liliana Vess
2 End Hostilities
1 Duneblast
This is obviously built off Chapin's deck with some key changes depending on the meta I expected:
+1 Caves of Koilos, -1 Temple of Silence: I'm not really comfortable playing 11 ETB tapped lands. It just seems so.... slow, to be honest, and I'd rather have a little less. Hence the painland for scryland swap. Heck, I even thought that 10 was still one too many but I didn't want to mess with the manabase so much so I left it at that.
MD/SB Swap: 2 Drown for a Downfall and a Thoughtseize - Boss Sligh was everywhere I looked. Like.... everywhere. So I made this last-minute change to give myself a little more hope against that deck G1. Not sure if the swap was correct, again, last-minute.
So I was right about that expected deck - I think roughly 40% of the people were playing red aggressive decks. Of course, having luck like I do, I manage to get paired with none of them. At all. Heck, I didn't even play anyone with the second most popular deck (Abzan). Well.
R1: UR Ensoul Artifact.dec (L 1-2): Game 1 is T3 Rhino, T4 Sorin, T5 Elspeth, T6 Roc thanks to a Sylvan Caryatid and he scoops. We play a tough G2 where I race his Ghostfire Blade'd Ornithopter with 2 Courser of Kruphix, hoping for lands off the top so I can pull ahead in the race. Instead I keep drawing Siege Rhino and Sorin, but he has the Disdainful Strokes in hand and finishes me off with Shrapnel Blast.
G3 is where I think I made an error. His T1 is land, Ornithopter. Ghostfire Blade. On my T2 there are two lines of play I can take - play an untapped land and Bile Blight the Ornithopter before it equips, or Thoughtseize, get info, and play a scryland. I take the second line, and get presented with a hand of Stoke the Flames, Shrapnel Blast and Lightning Strike + land. I take one of the burn spells, and we proceed to race each other, again Ornithopter vs. Courser. I have god knows how many turns to draw an answer to the Ornithopter, but do not, and eventually lose when he finally finds the Ensoul Artifact to deal more damage per turn than I can. Ornithopter was the only creature he drew that game (until that Ensoul really late), and in hindsight I believe I would've won if I just killed it on T2 (the burn spells just got Negate'd by Courser + land drops). After the game I was talking to a friend and he believes I should've killed that Thopter on T2. Up to now I'm still not sure if I took the correct line or not.
Oh well.
R2: Jeskai Aggro/Wins/Skies/Burn/Tempo/whatever (W 2-0): Having played this matchup countless of times now this was a pretty routine pair of games. Rhino and Sorin do him in G1, and in G2 I just kill everything in sight and swing with Courser + Wingmate Roc. Keeping them on the burn plan and not letting Mantis Rider do any work seems to be how to beat them, I guess.
R3: Whidisi (whatever Christian Seibold played at the Pro Tour) (W 2-0): We ground stall game 1 and I beat him with a 3/4 bird token and 2/2 vampire for several turns until he topdecks Whip of Erebos. Gets some value out of it, and I Read the Bones + Abzan Charm my way into those Utter Ends to take that out. G2 wasn't really interesting, I play T3 Rhino and he manages to mill out TWO Whips without a way to get them back. Oh well.
R4: Temur Aggro (L 0-2): Mull to 6, and am done in when he goes Ashcloud-Bestow Satyr-Sarkhan, too much flying killing me. G2 I manage to stabilize with a End Hostilities to catch his Knuckleblade without enough mana to bounce, and look to take control over the next few turns.... then he rips his 4th Knuckleblade off the top of his deck, while I try to draw some cards to dig for answers. They give me Thoughtseize and lands, and the next attack + Crater's Claws is enough to knock me out.
R5: Temur Aggro (W 2-0): I eke out G1 after a Drown in Sorrow hit like 3 mana dorks and tries to rebuild his board, meanwhile I draw 4 lands off the top. Thankfully, I kept his fliers at bay with removal, and a lucky Elspeth topdeck manages to keep the Knuckleblades at bay. The Elspeth tokens give me the time I needed to play some Coursers/Rhinos and he scoops the turn before I can ult and swing. In G2, he goes T1 Elf, T2 Rattleclaw + Elf and I Thoughtseize his hand to see what he's ramping into. Boon Satyr, Surrak, Stormbreath. Painful.... oh, wait, I have End Hostilities. He drops 2 of the beaters as expected and gets me down to 6 before I clear the board. Stuck at 2 mana and me with as many lands as needed, he dies after I go Courser + Caryatid, Rhino next turn, Roc the next turn while his 4th land ETB tapped with a Phoenix in hand.
R6: R/G Monsters (W 2-1): At this point we do some math and realize that one of us can still sneak into Top 8 provided the other matches go our way so we play it out. I lose G1 to a curve of Xenagos-Stormbreath-Stormbreath-Sarkhan, too much haste damage there. G2 I win with the nut curve of T3 Rhino, T4 Roc, T5 Elspeth, T6 Sorin, gaining an unhealthy amount of life to just pull ahead against his monsters. He gets his curve as usual in G3, but it's a little to reliant on mana dorks, and once again End Hostilities puts him so far behind and I mop it up with Rhino + Courser beatdown after.
After all the rounds were played I placed something like 10th, and sure enough, there was indeed one X-2 who snuck in at 8th. Too bad. UR Robots dude hit T8, though, and was in T4 before we left, kinda feels nice when the guy who beat you ended up beating pretty much everyone else, heh.
I'm going to another tournament tomorrow that awards a hefty amount of cash prize and will probably break 200+ players, so I'll revert back to the original Chapin list + my small change in lands. I also have 1 less Nissa than him in my 75 (a 3rd Drown in its place) and this is because pretty much no one plays that U/B deck around here, where Nissa is really amazing.
I think I have a better feel for the Temur/RG matchups now. I seem to win whenever I just kill their flyers and just try to keep up with Savage Knuckleblade when before I was focusing on getting that fake Aetherling off the table. Not sure if this is how to do it, anyone with more insight into the Temur Aggro and RG Monsters matchups?
I quoted the above because in mentioning it to a friend I found out some info that frustrates me further over that disappointing day
It also explains why some of you may be thinking the comment is confusing...
Ultimately, it's so anyone else that isn't aware of this interaction... becomes aware.
Protection from the Rhino only reduces damage to what the creature can normally take, because of trample. I thought the Soldier would reduce damage to 0, and so I didn't attack at all with my Rhinos. Had I been attacking with them, each Soldier/Rhino block would have yielded 3 damage to my opponent.
Oh well. 1-3 is the same as 0-4 in my book.
Also, since this happened in the match and I'm bringing up the trample interaction...
Trample has to do lethal damage to all blockers before it can carry over to the opponent.
[EDIT: One damage is lethal to the Soldier, it can just reduce it to 0. This is for when you're x-blocked.]