Came in Third tonight, with this. Only dropped a match to mono-B Control with Griselbrand finisher. Won G1, then never saw a Selesnya Charm all game 2, and the removal I brought in at G2 never appeared in either of 2 or 3
So I ran this. Went 3-2, losing both of the matches to ****ing UW control. What the hell can we do against a deck that sees 4 Terminus in a game? I brought in Garruk, Primal Hunter and Thragtusk and it didn't help at all.
So I ran this. Went 3-2, losing both of the matches to ****ing UW control. What the hell can we do against a deck that sees 4 Terminus in a game? I brought in Garruk, Primal Hunter and Thragtusk and it didn't help at all.
Garruk, Thalia and Thragtusk are pretty much the only options we have. Try to lure them to use detention spheres on your smiter for example and then play garruk. I know its very frustrating when they are like "oh look! I just top decked terminus, jace and double spheres and look! It's Entreat! I must be a very good player."
Just try to play Garruk (around Detention Sphere).
Went 3-0-1 in the Swiss of a 22 Man FNM. Then went to top 2 and split. My list is a metagamed version of Matthew McIntyre's Virginia State's 3rd-4th place list.
Player/Deck Quality: 5/10
G1: He got stuck on 1 mana for 3 turns and just huntmastered him to death
Sb:-3 Thalia, -1 Charm
+2 o ring, +2 primal hunter
G2: he curved out to t3 primal hunter. Gg
G3: I hit 2 pillar and 2 huntmaster and just killed everything
Round 2: GW Midrange. W 2-0
Player/deck Quality: 6.5/10
G1: I out tempo him and Crusade to victory
Sb:-3 Thalia, +2 o ring, +1 Primal hunter
G2: we stale mate for a few turns until he lands trostani, then goes to 62 to my 12 before u bonfire for 9. I land my single primal hunter and then ultimate for 11 wurms 4 turns later.
Round 3: RDW. W 2-1.
Player/deck quality: 5.5/10
G1: 2 thrag and a resto sweep the game... Draw no red
Sb: -3 bonfire, +2 Charm, +1 relentless
G2:I hit a slower hand than I thought, before long I have a resto and 3 smiters vs 2 nobles, a cackler, shredfreak, chainwalker and a hellrider. I got to 2 with a thrag and 3hm in my hand, no red again. Pray for topdeck land.. No.... Pillar for win
Sb: -3 pillar, +3 knight of glory
G3: he opens with noble, me a knight. Follow with a healer, hm #1 dies, hm #2 flips and then I swing for 5 from exalted trigger pots him to 7. Follow with another swing, no blocks? Charm him up to 7.
Round 4: ID with RW Humans
Top 8: Bant. W 2-0
Player/deck quality: 8/10
G1: play t2 Thalia, follow with smiter. He plays thrag, temp him with bad blocks, 2 Jace and 2 sweepers, a thrag and smiter later i'm pumping gavony into them for game
Sb: -3 pillar, -3 bonfire, -3 healer, -1 visionary
+2 charm, +2 primal hunter, +2 o ring, +2 rip, +1 ray, +1 needle
G2: Thalia and smiter again led the charge. He Serenityed them, I charmed that away. 2 d sphere, 2 Jace, a thrag and 2 sphx revelation. I tempoed him to death.
Both games he did get an abundant amount of land but an abundant amount of card draw. Also in hindsight he did misplay Jaces in g1 attempting to slow me down.
Top4: RW Humans. W 2-1.
Player/deck quality: 7.5/10
G1: 3 Thalia, 1 hm, a pillar, a pilgrim and 11 lands later I was dead.
Sb: -3 Thalia, +2 o.ring, +1 relentless
G2: no red, but I hit a thrag, resto and a few smiter, he got a slow rolling hand after a mull to 6.
G3: arrester tempos me out of t2 smiter. Plays ajani, I play thrag, then silver blade his the board. I rip an o ring, hit paladin, and take ajani to 1 with thrag and pilgrim, smiter again and take control of the game to his dismay
Comments
Loved the deck. Having issues pulling red. Hated the mortars. Rip didn't seem as necessary as it should have
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I survived Faeries, Caw Blade, Valakut and Delver.
Standard: BGW Abzan Control BGW WU Azorius Heroic WU
Islands are used to pay the colorless parts of green spells.
Skipsofrenic, drop 2 sunpetal grove and add 2 clifftop retreat. Your not running farseek otherwise i would suggest thundermaw hellkite. Do you ever get to overload mortars if you bring it in?
Thanks Itsbrake. I will have to tool around with my manabase a little and that's a good start. I never sided mortars in. as for overloading it. I never had 3 red mana ever. My assumption is that Matthew McIntyre never intended to either, he was prob using it as 1 for 1 removal.
I did like how the deck handled Bant though. I do like 4 charms for Bant. That way they can't use Serenity angel to get their stuff back. I never felt desperate for topdecks except my first selesnya charm for the Serenity.
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I survived Faeries, Caw Blade, Valakut and Delver.
Standard: BGW Abzan Control BGW WU Azorius Heroic WU
Islands are used to pay the colorless parts of green spells.
Played G/W in the Standard event yesterday at my local shop. Pretty competitive. Did not go well. Went 0-2, played the third game for fun, and won that one, ending 1-2 and dropping.
The first match I played against a guy with Adam Prosak's U/W Midrange list. I playtest with a friend's UWR Tempo deck and it gives me fits. Playing U/W was about the same experience.
Game 2 I bring in Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Dryad Militant. It is basically a repeat of the first game, except I stick a Thalia and it just takes him an extra turn or two to establish tempo. He sticks a Runechanter's Pike after playing a good number of instants/sorceries. I draw a Dryad Militant after Pike has already become an absolute force of nature and I weep for my battered soul. I realize that I should've probably brought in Rest in Peace. I tell the guy how much I miss Thrun.
Second match is against RDW. But not the really scary version that runs Thundermaw Hellkite. My opponent is playing the cheaper, but still decent, version that runs Stromkirk Noble. Felt like I was going to win this one (lol).
Game 1 is how I expect the games to go. Stick a Centaur Healer. Cast a Thragtusk later. Win.
Game 2 I don't really side in much. Have a pretty solid hand with some nice 3-drops and keep it. Resolve a Loxodon Smiter and Rancor it, and it later gets stolen with Traitorous Blood and hits me for a lot. 3 Silverblade Paladin sit in my hand all game as I can only hit one white source, so I can never put together much of a defense.
Game 3 I side out Sigarda, Host of Herons for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Figure it trades with most of his creatures profitably, while making his burn a lot slower. I don't draw one. Instead I stick another Loxodon/Rancor, it gets stolen again while I have Faith's Shield in my hand (but I only have one white source, AGAIN), see no life gain, and I get burnt out. I am totally ****ing embarrassed and rethink what I am doing with my life.
I play the third match because I don't want to go home 0-2. I'm up against Reanimator. Game 1 I overwhelm him with Loxodon Smiter and Sigarda, Host of Herons beats. Game 2 I see a Rest in Peace and that's essentially that.
Also realizing I need to do something about this U/W problem. Feel like I need to bring Cavern of Souls into the mix. I need a way to turn Sigarda into Thrun, the Last Troll. I just have a really hard time establishing board presence against these decks unless they just simply draw bad hands.
Also feeling pretty unimpressed with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I thought that if she's good enough for Legacy, she's good enough for Standard. But she really doesn't do enough against these U/W/R and Bant lists. She's really solid against tokens, but I don't think that she should earn a sideboard slot based on that. I guess if Esper Tokens becomes a big thing she'll be good, but right now I feel like she needs replacing.
Game 1: We both clutter the board with fatties, but he can't find an answer for Sublime archangel.
Game 2: I keep a slow hand, and get punished as he goes elf into farseek into double huntmaster.
Game 3: Another cluttered board, but Armada Wurm + township is too much for him to deal with.
Round 2:W Vs. Epic Experiment, 2-1 (more creature based than combo based, although Increasing Devotion is the main wincon)
Game 1: Double smiter + rancor is too fast for him
Game 2: Don't draw any hate cards (RIP does work in this matchup), and he goes off before I can kill him
Game 3: Land RIP, Thalia, early Garruk, PH. He hits terminus several times, but Keyrune, Garruk tokens do work.
Round 3: W Vs. Either Epic Experiment or American control, 2-0. I didn't see very much of his deck - he barely played anything either game
Game 1: Fast hand of Call into Smiter into Archangel
Game 2: I mull to 5, he goes to 4 on the play, and scoops pretty fast. My opponent was on tilt pretty hard this matchup.
Round 4: ID vs Bant Control
We didn't play this matchup - We drew, then opponent had to go. My deck isn't nearly as fast as the all in aggro, so this is a bad matchup for me and I probably would have lost.
Overall thoughts:
I got pretty lucky overall, but I do play this deck on cockatice a lot and I like it. It obviously has identity issues; it is stuck smack dab between going all in rancor/silverblade/sublime and the resto/thrag package. Eventually, I'll try the hyper aggro version, but Thrag/Sigarda are so good against a lot of the decks in the format right now.
Individual card thoughts:
Keyrune goes a long way to shoring up bad matchups. It probably doesn't belong in the aggro version, but it helps tremendously against decks that wrath, and since most of the removal in the format is sorcery speed, it rarely dies outside of combat. It also is a mana rock that can't get pillared, and can lead to fun early drops. One time online, I landed a turn 3 Armada wurm with it (t1 elf, t2 keyrune into elf, +landrops = 6 mana). Against aggro, I do an automatic swap into healers post board.
Rest in Peace - 3 seems like a lot, but when you want it, you really want it. It destroys reanimator, as well as coming in against a lot of the rogue brews.
Thalia - Thalia has been mediocre in testing, but I think she's the best we have to combat control decks. At the very least, she slows down control decks by a turn or two, and if she sticks she can take over games where the opponent is hoping to durdle for a while before wrathing.
Armada Wurm - Broodmate wurm is either very good, or very bad. In creature mirrors, it usually trumps whatever the opponent has out, as ten trampling power is hard for most creature based decks to deal with, especially split between two creatures. It is bad in Control, where it likely gets wrath'd away anyways.
Problems: GW Aggro - I'm usually a turn or two slower than them, and even with outs, silverblade is really hard to interact with. Other aggro decks I can stall out enough against (RDW, GB/RB Zombies), especially with healers post board, but GW aggro is rough.
Bant Control: Sphinx's Revelation and Angel of Serenity are backbreaking, and all the extra creatures make this much harder to deal with than staight UW miracles.
Played against Mono-G Fight Club R1, Frites R2, and RUG Midrange R3. Dropped my G3 against Frites to some really stupid misplays on my part (O-Ringed a Thragtusk when he had a Griselbrand in his GY).
Overall, I'm pretty well sold on Rogue's Passage at this point. That card won me 3 different games by pushing through a bonded Silverheart or a bonded Sigarda for lethal.
Game 1: Took around 40 minutes. I had an excellent draw, but so did he. I had him down under 10, but he landed a Jace, AoT as well as a Tamiyo and, after several board wipes, managed to keep my only creature, a Thragtusk, tapped down. He ended up ultimating it, but I figured I might be able to draw it out until he milled himself by accident. I lost this one only because he dug into all of his Detention Spheres via Jace.
Game 2: After shuffling and mulligans, I ended the match in roughly five minutes. My opening hand was something along the lines of double Loxodon Smiter, two lands, Avacyn’s Pilgrim, Farseek, and a Huntmaster. Absolute nut draw, and I beat his face in before we went to time. We end up drawing.
Current record: 0-0-1
Round 2 – G/W Midrange
Game 1: I ramp quickly into a Loxodon Smiter ,followed by a Huntmaster. She lands a Thragtusk and a Restoration Angel, followed by a Collective Blessing. I miracle a Bonfire, but can only cast it for 6 (and she has lethal with the creature that survives). I miracle Entreat the Angels, but only for four. This would normally be fine if I wasn’t so vastly outpowered. I manage to trade my remaining creatures efficiently enough that she ends up with no blockers. I have two angels and enough mana to hit her for 14 damage.
Game 2: Mana dorks into Farseek into Huntmaster into Zealous Conscripts after she lands a Loxodon Smiter. Swing for nearly lethal (16 down to 3) and she topdecks a land. GG.
Current record: 1-0-1
Round 3 – U/W Control
Game 1: I ramp into a Huntmaster (which gets Supreme Verdict’d), followed by a Thragtusk, followed by a Zealous Conscripts. Game ends in short order.
Game 2: Due to being cocky and up a game, I kept a no-lander with two Pithing Needles, two mana dorks, a Farseek, and three Loxodon Smiters. If there was any land, it’d be an absolutely bonkers hand against any control deck. I was on the draw, but didn’t get a land T1. Got a Temple Garden T2 and simply played the game out as usual. His deck was extremely slow, so it wasn’t too big of a tempo loss. He went from 20-16-12-4 and then scooped as he didn’t draw anything useful.
Current record: 2-0-1
Round 4 – Junk Tokens/Aggro
Game 1: He lands a T4 Armada Wurm and I miracle an Entreat the Angels. We fight a very slow war of attrition, but I end up being two damage short.
Game 2: I play a Dryad Militant T1, followed by a Loxodon Smiter and a Restoration Angel. He’s forced to chump with Lingering Souls tokens (which he can’t flash back) and I swing for lethal with Selesnya Charm mana up.
Game 3: Ramp into a Huntmaster, which ends up flipping. He lands a Thragtusk and I swing for a ton (15 down to 3 without trading for his Thragtusk courtesy of Selesnya Charm). He lands another Thragtusk and I just keep swinging. We go to time. He goes to 1, but I’m tapped out and it’s turn 4. He passes turn and we draw, unfortunately.
Current record: 2-0-2
Top 4 – Omniscience
Game 1: I ramp into a Loxodon Smiter and a Thragtusk. This game was over in a grand total of like 6 turns as he was unable to play anything of use.
Game 2: Ramp into a Huntmaster, followed by a Thragtusk. He throws down a Centaur Healer. I trade the Thragtusk and play a Restoration Angel on his end step. I play another Thragtusk and we start to trade back and forth. We trade back and forth and he jumps up another ten life after playing a Thragtusk and blinking it with a Restoration Angel. I pull a Kessig Wolf Run and start plowing through his board. He’s at 9 and I’m at 4. He has a Restoration Angel and two 3/3 Beast tokens, one of which is tapped. I have an Acidic Slime, a Restoration Angel, and 9 mana with a Pillar in hand. He chooses to only block the Angel (a HUGE mistake) and I pump the slime for 5 and then Pillar to the face for the win.
Current record: 3-0-2. I end up splitting first with my friend.
I'm strongly considering putting a third Entreat in, simply because it's almost always a game-ender or a way to turn the tides when I'm way behind board presence-wise.
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The real core of Mirrodin.
Currently playing: WGR Naya Midrange WGR WG Tempered Steel GW[retired]
So I took the same list as above tonight. Ended up 3-2, dropping both of the matches to mana screw in the 3rd game. Ended up beating U/W control though, so I feel pretty successful. Add in the three packs I cracked from my store credit (Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, Jarad), and I had a pretty good night.
Went 4-0-1 last night at FNW with the following list. My last-round opponent and I played for fun and I won that match so I basically went 5-0. My meta is pretty competitive (some zombies, some Bant control, American midrange, Frights, etc.) The sideboard is largely a meta call.
Round 1 vs Izzit Gutersnipe/Talrand/Bonfire homebrew: 2-1
I mulliganed to 6 first game but ended up getting stuck on not enough lands and my opponent just wore me down with swarms of drakes. I mulliganed to 6 second game but ended up winning through Thragtusk/Resto Angel domination. Third game I had a fast start; Pilgrims into Centaur Healer into x2 Rancor and, even after my opponent dealt with the Centuar I had enough threats to finish the job.
1-0
Round 2 vs Junk midrange/ramp (I think) 2-0
I mulliganed to 6 first game but absolutely crushed my opponent as the entire game he played nothing but lands and Farseek. Game 2 my opponent seemed like he was in the same situation he was the previous game but he did manage to hard-cast a Terminus. Even after the wipe I had held back enough to secure the win.
2-0
Round 3 vs BG Zombies 2-1
Game 1 I simply could not get anything going, had to mulligan down to 6, and got swarmed down despite a few Centuar Healers here and there. After losing I sideboarded in all my lifegain and sided out anything with a casting cost higher than 5. Game 2 was very good, back and forth, but I eventually landed a Gavony Townhip and punched through for the win. Game 3 was also very good. I landed T3 and T4 Fiend Hunters to control my opponents threats and swung in for the win with Resoration Angels and Rancor. Heroe’s Reunion = worth its weight in gold in this matchup and I plan to add a second before next FNM.
3-0
Round 4 vs Mirror 2-1
Game 1 was a lot of back and forth but, once he landed his Gavony he just overwhelmed me despite the fact we had each gained a combined 50+ life over the course of the game. Game 2 I sided in hard agro and went T2 Smiter, T3 2x Rancor and crushed him before he could get anything going. Game 3 I made the(possibly controversial) choice to side out all my Thragtusks and side in 4 nevermore’s. During this game I made the craziest play I think I’ve done in the last year. We both kinda start out slow but my opponent eventually lands a Trostani which I Fiend Hunter. Next turn my opponent Trostani’s again and I play Armada Wurm. My opponent lands a Sigarda and I swing with my Wurm token. Next turn my opponent soulbonds a Silverblade Paladin to Sigarda and passes. During my opponent’s end step I Restoration angel my Fiend Hunter to target the Silverblade Paladin putting 2 Trostani’s in play, killing them, and leaving my opponent with only Sigarda. I then top-deck my own Sigarda, play her killing his and my own, and swing in for the win with my wurms and angel. Was sickest play I’ve done in a long time.
4-0
Round 5 vs Frisghts 1-1-1
During one of our faux game I got my nut draw: T1 Arbor Elf, T2 Smiter, T3 Silverblade Paladin + Rancor. Swing for 12 on turn 3. Hard to come back from.
4-0-1
Game 1: 2-0 win vs. Bant Control.
Game 2: 2-0 win vs. UWR Tempo
Game 3: 2-0 win vs. Heartless Summoning
Game 4: 1-2 loss vs. B/R Zombies
Game 5: 2-0 win vs. U/W Humans
Game 6: Draw for top 8.
Game 7: 1-2 Loss vs. UWR Tempo (a different player from game 5).
A little disappointed with game 3 of my top 8 game, as I stupidly kept a 5 land Farseek Restoration Angel hand and my opponent had an insane tempo hand. He is my friend anyway so I was fine with him beating me.
Other than that, I felt that this deck is really strong against most decks. I was the only guy undefeated at the end of round 3.
It does struggle against tempo if they get their game going, but that requires very precise play and good draws on their part. It also struggles against massive early damage, as demonstrated by my loss to zombies. Guy had 2 blood artists out on the last game and there wasn't much I could do after he appetite for brains'd my sever the bloodline.
Random miracle'd entreats won me so many games that I think it is the most important card in midrange decks running white. Trostani performed incredibly the whole day, even against control. I wasn't disappointed with any card in my deck, and would happily play the same 75 for another major event.
Let me know if anyone wants any details on any of my matchups.
Game 1: Faced off against a strange Naya home-brew. Felt like I should have won this game, maybe I was overconfident. His cards were no slouches, with the red splash carrying Bonfire, Pillar, and Thundermaw Hellkite. Other than that, it was similar to our Thragtusk/Restoration Angel build but with Farseeks over Mana dorks (to grab the relevant color fixing.) Took Round 1 with a double Sublime Archangel, double Rancor for obscene damage. He sideboards almost his entire board, I add the Faith's Shield. I think he took it on the sideboarding because he won the next two games.
1-2 Loss
Game 2: Sit down at the table across from a frenemy of mine who usually runs control. He's a nice guy when you talk to him, but sitting across the table he turns into a huge rules lawyer, becoming anal over tapping your guys before "declaring attack", stuff like that. Today is no exception and he is playing 4 color control, basically Bant Control with a hint of black for removal. Before Game 1 starts, the judge comes and grabs me, telling me I only had 59 cards in my deck. I had accidentally written down 5 plains instead of 6 because I had switched the mana around the night before >_<. The Game Loss for Round 1 was really tough, I really wanted to beat this guy. I go on to win the first game by playing 2 separate Garruk PH and smashing him to death with beast tokens. We go on to have a close match for Game 3, I get him low but he locks it up with Jace and Tamiyo, gets the ultimate on Tamiyo and then plays Terminus. Game.
1-2 Loss, 0-2 Night
Game 3: Sit down against another person I've played before. This guy has pro-tour experience and I expect to lose this game, but he says he's having a bad night. Drops a bunch of non-basic lands and throws down Jund Zombies. He gets me low, I get a silverblade and sublime on the board, attack, attack again and Garruk PH for 7 cards from Sublime, win. Sideboard in Tusks and Faith's Shield for Game 2. Don't get Tusk or shield next game, proceed to lose. Get Tusk and 2 Shields Game 3, win. Simple as that.
2-1 Win, 1-2 Night
Game 4: Slightly re-energized, I sit down against a guy I've never seen before. His english was limited so we had to play by pointing. Fortunately he was pure RDW so you don't have to do much besides point even if you speak English, LOL. He got screwed both games. Game 1 he hit me with a Vexing Devil, a couple Stromkrik Noble attacks, and a searing spear. I turned the game around when I flashed in an avenger to eat one of the nobles, and proceeded to stomp him into the ground with my superior attack force. Game 2 he mulligans to 5 and still doesn't get a land. I put him out of his misery quick with a Stangleroot Geist bonded to Silverblade Paladin and miracle Revenge of the Hunted.
2-0 Win, 2-2 Night
Game 5: Never met this guy before but he was really cool and fun to play against. He used pokemon cards for beast tokens and we both agreed to roll 8 dice to see who goes first instead of the usual 2. He was also on the same page as me about "playing loose". If I tap my guy to swing and he goes "wait I want to Feeling of Dread", then in both of our minds the effect resolves how the rules intend and the game proceeds as it should. So first game he plays three lingering souls and flashes them all back. There are a lot of souls on the board and a Detention Sphere sure would be nice. Or perhaps that Thundermaw from the Naya home-brew I played earlier... But alas. I proceed to make inroads pounding him with green/white dudes and then he drops Sorin. Disrupts my game with interactive cards and proceeds to smash in the air twice for 12. Games 2 and 3 proceed in somewhat similar fashion but no Sorin hits the board. I sided in Nevermore, drew Nevermore and called Sorin for Game 3. Maybe that helped. He hit a miracle Entreat the Angels twice but only for 1 and then for 2. If either of those entreats had been bigger it would have been game on my end, so that was complete luck in my favor. All 3 games were really close and the term "Good Game" truly applied to these matches. I won in game 3.
2-1 Win, 3-2 Night
Top 8 Round 1: Sit down against a guy my age. He's polite but it's clear he isn't messing around. Taps fast, plays fast, barely says anything. He's playing black and red not-zombies, "Dos Rakdos" or whatever they're calling it these days. I know everybody always, ALWAYS says this but I really did get screwed the first hand. Didn't mulligan with 2 forests and 2 Avacyn's Pilgrims, so maybe it's partially my fault but I had no way to know he was playing burn. He shoots my 2 pilgrims in the face with burn and proceeds to pound me into the dirt with Smash Zealot while I'm holding a hand full of Silverblade Paladins and Sublime Archangels. Game 2 goes somewhat better. I side in the Thragtusks and get one off, then Rancor one and Garruk PH him to draw 7 cards. We race and it comes down to a single turn, but he still pulls it off with 2 Deathrite Shamans exiling his burn from the graveyard for extra damage. His deck was good, he was good, and the deathrite shamans were an innovative addition to the current RDW meta. He deserved to win.
Thoughts:
I think I did pretty good for getting a game loss against a tough opponent, and by working on minimizing play errors like forgetting to attack with an arbor elf early on I think I can take this deck even further. It just needs a little bit of so-called "inbreeding" for the current meta.
The Faith's Shield and Thragtusks saw a lot of play from the sideboard. I'm dropping down to three Wolfir Silverhearts and adding a Faith's Shield back to the mainboard.
Also dropping one of the Oblivion Rings for a Fiend Hunter, with an idea to get back the lost synergy from subtracting a creature.
Altering sideboard somewhat as well. It seems like my maindeck transitions usually bubble up from the sideboard, so that's the logical place to start.
Surprised by the amount of aggro and zombies at the game (myself included even though it's borderline mid-range). I feel it was an aberration of the current meta and won't think too much of it unless I see this trend continue.
Tournament Report - 11th Place
SCG Open Series Dallas
465 participants, 10 rounds
I was expecting to play a Junk Ramp deck, primarily GW (Angel of Serenity, Restoration Angel, Thragtusk) with black mostly for removal and Vault of the Archangel. I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, and when I saw Adam Witton's Naya Ramp deck from GP Auckland, I was all in for swapping out the black removal for burn, and exchanging the Vault for Kessig Wolf Run.
This was basically Adam Witton's deck, with just a couple of changes. First, the decklist in Wizard's coverage seemed off, as has been noted here in the forums, so I swapped out 2 Selesnya Guildgate as shown in the decklist for 2 Selesnya Keyrune. Second, there has been much more countermagic showing up on MTGO, so I swapped the 3rd Guildgate in the original list for a Cavern of Souls, and I exchanged the 4th Garruk, Primal Hunter in the SB for another Cavern. Interestingly, it seems that at least 2 others in the SCG field were playing Witton's main deck, but they continued to use the Guildgates and no Keyrunes. I felt that the Keyrunes were key in a number of my matches, both from an acceleration standpoint and to allow some continued pressure after a board sweep.
R1 v 4-color Frites: G1 the opp reanimated an Armada Wurm on T4, but an Oblivion Ring plus a Selesnya Charm took care of the 5/5s. He found no other big creatures, and a Beast token trampled over his spirit tokens with the help of Kessig Wolf Run to finish him. G2 he reanimated Griselbrand on T4, and though an O-Ring took him out as well, the cards he drew in response allowed him to eventually reanimate a Craterhoof Behemoth to end the game. G3 he was land flooded, and I had a Purify the Grave in hand but never needed it before Selesnya Keyrune and Thragtusk trampled over his spirits for the win. (1-0, 2-1 games)
R2 v Bant Mid-Range: G1 Garruk, Primal Hunter kept generating Beasts and eventually trampling guys got through his creatures. G2 I mulliganed and couldn't draw enough guys to keep up with his. G3 he had more Angel of Serenitys, but it took too long and time ran out for the draw. (1-0-1, 3-2-1 games)
R3 v UW Mid-Range: Both games Bonfire of the Damned cleared his board and a Wolf Run-fueled trampler, mostly Restoration Angel, closed him out. (2-0-1, 5-2-1 games)
R4 v 4-color Frites: G1 I accelerated into an Angel of Serenity, and knocked him down to 2. He finally got his own AoS in the graveyard and he reanimated it to take mine. I had another in hand, but he found another next turn, so we danced for at least 5 turns casting AoS every turn (I was hoping to draw any burn card), until he finally broke the symmetry by casting 2 Thragtusks instead to gain some life. I then dropped a Wolf Run and pumped my AoS up to 12 power for the win. G2 saw him reanimate Craterhoof Behemoth for about 40 for the win. G3 he mulliganed to 5, and I got a God draw of acceleration into T3 Sigarda, Host of Herons, T4 Thragtusk and attack for 5, T5 attack for 10 and Devil's Play for the win. (3-0-1, 7-3-1 games)
R5 v UW Mid-Range: G1 he mulliganed and was land light. Thragtusk and an Avacyn's Pilgrim killed him. G2 he blinked his Borderland Rangers with Restoration Angels every turn to stymie my attacks on the ground, and he flew over my guys for the win. G3 went to time with him attacking every turn with a guy equipped with Runechanter's Pike and me having enough guys (from AoS bringing back my guys from the graveyard) to throw in front of him so I didn't die. (3-0-2, 8-4-2 games)
R6 v Junk Tokens: G1 we both cast 2 Thragtusks, but Wolf Run made mine better. An Angel of Serenity joined in and Devil's Play ended it. G2 he cast a few Lingering Souls, but Bonfire killed all of the spirits and my guys killed him from 15 in one attack. (4-0-2, 10-4-2 games)
R7 v Bant Mid-Range: G1 a Huntmaster of the Fells flipped back and forth a few times and a Bonfire killed off his guys. G2 Sigarda was vital. His 2 AoS couldn't target her, and I O-Ringed both of them and kept pumping Sigarda with Wolf Run for the win confident that he couldn't kill or bounce her. (5-0-2, 12-4-2 games)
R8 v UW Control: G1 I'm not sure what happened. He must have drawn all lands, because I attacked him a few times with a Pilgrim and a Restoration Angel, then burned him twice with Devil's Play and then with Bonfire with him having no counters. G2 I boarded out the burn and brought in the Loxodon Smiters and Sigarda, and with a Cavern of Souls set to Angels he couldn't counter any of my guys. He swept the board twice, but I kept playing more uncounterable guys and won. (6-0-2, 14-4-2 games)
R9 v UW Control (yet again): G1 I got him to 3, but he gained lots of life and drew lots of cards with Sphinx's Revelation and I suddenly couldn't win against his sweepers. G2 he countered one Garruk, but a second one stuck, and Beast tokens and a Selesnya Keyrune kept attacking through his sweepers for the win. We started G3 late, and time ran out. (6-0-3, 15-5-3 games)
R10 v Jund Mid-Range: Finally out of Top 8 contention, I was determined to make Top 16. G1 I was done in by his Wolf Run and Thragtusks. G2 we both had Thragtusks, but AoS finally appeared and a late Devil's Play did the last 5 damage. G3 Sigarda was unstoppable. O-Ring killed one of his Olivia Voldarens before she could become big enough to block Sigarda, Bonfire killed the second Olivia, and his third Olivia (!) had to chump Sigarda one last time before she finally killed him. (7-0-3, 17-6-3 games)
Overall, I loved the deck. Having 10 ramp cards seemed just right to me, and my lands held up for all 10 rounds with very few mulligans. Since I got into the "draw bracket" early and saw no aggro decks, my least-used and most-often boarded out cards were the Huntmasters. They were still useful at times and I would probably keep them in, but I might try to find room to move Sigarda to the main, maybe by taking out the 4th Huntmaster and possibly a Garruk. My MVPs for the day were probably Sigarda, Kessig Wolf Run, and Bonfire, with Cavern of Souls, Oblivion Ring and Angel of Serenity also key at times. The singles Terminus and Centaur Healer in the SB did nothing all day, but I can see their worth against aggro. The Zealous Conscripts did nothing either, and even though I boarded them in a few times, I never really wanted them in any of my matchups.
Too bad about the control matchups. I have a naya build and I've run into the same problems; games just get into this weird state were it's a back and forth thragtusk/AoS battle that never ends.
Only change I'm going to make is to drop the Intrepid Hero for a second Odric. They're there for the mirror match, and I think Odric is going to perform better in more situations.
Round 1 vs. RDW/lower curve. He drops some 2/xs, but doesn't push enough damage. Also he can't get rid of my Loxodon Smiter and Sublime Archangel joins in. Game 2 is similar except I make a mistake, getting greedy tapping Gavony Township for 2 extra damage and to pump 2 mana dorks. He does Electrickery overload in response, killing my 2 mana dorks. I still get there by taking a chance that he will not draw a 2 damage spell. He draws a land and I win. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. UWR Midrange. I just draw too many good early cards and win. Game 1, Champ, Pilgrims for days and Gavony Township are too much. By the time he gets Geist of Saint Traft, I have nearly lethal on board. Game 2 involves Champ, Thalia and 2 Silverblade Paladin. That's pretty rough to deal with. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. 4 Color Jund Midrange. Game 1, I get a good draw. After a bit of removal, I smash for lethal before he can stabilize with infinity Thragtusk. Game 2, I keep 1 Plains, 1 Champ, 2 Arbor Elf, 1 Mayor of Avabruck, 1 Thalia, and 1 Sublime Archangel. I fail to draw a land in 8 turns and lose. Game 3 is close, but I make a mistake of playing a Sublime Archangel when I had Smiter bonded with Paladin. He top decks Mizzium Mortars and has exactly the right mana to play it for Overload. I draw 4 Plains, 2 Arbor Elf, and 1 Champ after this and lose to removal and something. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Hoof there it is. I get out turn 2 and 3 Loxodon Smiter and soon thereafter, I am swinging away with Gavony Township backup. He has to keep chumping with Lingering Souls, keeping me from losing to a Craterhoof Behemoth, which I just KNEW he had. Game 2 is pretty easy. A god draw of turn 2 Loxodon Smiter, then Paladin + Rancor, then Sublime Archangel is enough to kill any opponent. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. GW Aggro/Ethereal Armor. This was a pretty cool guy. I get a pretty good hand with Loxodon Smiter. He gets a 4th turn Paladin with 2 Ethereal Armor and Rancor on it. This scares me as I think he will cast a creature to soulbond and attack for lethal (if I don't block with a 1/1 or Sublime Archangel). Game 2 is me putting the pressure, then him blocking a 4/4 Smiter with Fencing Ace, Avacyn's Pilgrim soulbonded to Silverblade Paladin. I cast Selesnya Charm, which seems like a misplay on his part, but he was extremely low on life. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. 4 Color Reanimator. Game 1, I get through past a Thragtusk with another amazing hand. Smiter + Sublime Archangels win this game. I end up having 3 Archangel this game. Game 2, I keep Forest, Gavony Township, and 5 White cards. It takes a while to draw a land, but fortunately he doesn't get much from his GY. Eventually I land Smiter off Temple Garden. Then I do RIP next turn, but I lose to Olivia letting a bunch of damage through. I had to Rancor, then Selesnya Charm her, but Craterhoof Behemoth hardcasted with me at 4 life and Thrag in play won it. Game 3, I get another quick draw. I play Champ, then Avacyn's Pilgrim, then Thalia + Avacyn's Pilgrim X 2. He does Golgari Charm to kill a bunch, but on turn 4 I top deck a land and play the last card from my hand, Sublime Archangel to leave lethal on board next turn with him at 4 land in play. 2-1.
I finish 5-1, 3rd place.
Here is my decklist. The SB is probably pretty bad. (EDIT: It is bad.)
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Game 1: 0-2 vs. 5-color control
Well this caught me by surprise. Got owned by Gisela, Blade of Goldnight both games. Never saw a third land or a green source to cast farseek/pilgrim on the second game. Not a good start to the day!
Game 2: 2-1 vs. UWR tempo
Huntmaster is really good in this matchup, as is the rest of the deck.
Game 3: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
It's a good thing I have those pillars in the sideboard. If they godhand we lose. If they don't we usually win.
Game 4: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
This is a really popular deck.
Game 5: 2-0 vs. 4-color Staticaster
This is the deck that did well in GP Auckland and posting good results on MODO. My poor opponent got stuck on one land in game one, while I grinded out game 2 on the back of Slayer's Stronghold and Gavony Townshio, turning my excessive mana flood into a godsend.
Game 6: Draw into top 8.
My opponent was playing a really scary 4-color control which I would have most likely gotten crushed by. Phew.
Quarterfinals: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
Yep. It's this deck again. Got crushed by an amazing hand game one, then proceeded to win games 2 and 3 on the backs of Thragtusk and Huntmaster of the Fells.
Semi-finals: 2-1 vs. Dos Rakis
It's interesting to see this deck in the semis. I was very afraid after studying my opponent's decklist, as his entire list seems dedicated to beating a midrange deck like mine. Won off the back of... Borderland Ranger mostly. The value and body provided by ranger is amazing. Sigarda did some serious work in game two when I powered her out on turn four.
Finals: Split.
I should have played it out as my opponent was playing U/W flash and I was very confident of beating it, but we were both pretty tired so we just split.
Thoughts on the deck
This is a really strong deck, despite all the naysayers telling us that Naya is not gonna make it due to the manabase. Borderland Ranger and Farseek are such efficient fixers. The rangers also get better with all the utility lands in our colors.
I was very comfortable running 25 lands as I won the one game where I flooded very badly as I had a high curve (Angel of Serenity) and good mana sinks (Township, Stronghold, Wolf Run). The two games where I got stuck on two lands I lost, so having more mana is generally good. Running 25 lands also allowed me to board out a Slayer's Stronghold in the B/R Zombies matchup as I cut my seven-drops in this matchup.
Searing Spear's instant speed was amazing for me all day. Even though I never really used it for reach, it was very versatile and definitely something to mainboard in game one.
I am still unsure about the deck's control matchup. I would think game one would be difficult, whilst games two and three might be easier because of the conscripts and garruks. Never really got to find out as my only post-board game against control saw me getting stuck on a clifftop retreat and a kessig wolf run all game while my opponent went lingering souls, flashback, thragtusk, gisela.
The aggro matchup is pretty good unless the opponent gets the nuts and goes first. Or you get crappy draws.
This deck has no problems winning the midrange matchup as well. Having access to three Angel of Serenity and the three utlity lands helps immensely.
Just when I am about to stop playing Naya because I cannot find a way to push in those spears and pillars,this list of Sasky pops out...I will try this one out and see how it goes for me in this zombie/vampire/dragon-infested meta...
I posted this in the deck garage as well, but I'll post it here too in case it gets deleted. I don't want to have to type this all up again
Played this friday to a 5-0 finish. Was going to bring sledghammer red, but a friend of mine wanted me to try this for him. it was my decision to include 4x pillar main.
Match 1 vs. Esper control 2-1
G1 was pretty uneventful and long. I knew he was playing mainly syncopates and I never saw a cavern. He spent turns 3-5 countering my stuff. I stuck an angel at the end of his turn at some point and got a tusk down and hit him to like 10 life and then he started sphinx revelations on me and I eventually decked.
G2 was much better. I sided in 4x silverblade for a faster clock. I got smiter down t2 then silverblade t3 and he ended up verdicting on t4, then I slaughter gamed him for his revelations and he was down and out from there.
G3 was a slower version of G2. I eventually chipped an opening to slaughter games his revelations and he dies. We ended the match with 5 seconds to spare.
Match 2 vs Dirty cheap red- probably my best matchup. 2-0
G1 I got a turn 2 lingering souls which slowed him down long enough for me to play thragtusk. Once the tusk came down it was over and my creatures just muscled his smaller creatures out. Didn't see hellkite at all.
G2 was slower for me. I stabilized at 10 life on t4 with a huntmaster into thragtusk, blocked with thragtusk and rited him then angeled him. I overwhelmed his little guys from there.
Match 3 vs BR zombies 2-0
Before I start let me just say that I've done a lot of testing with BR zombies after it started winning and placing in major tournaments. Their main source of value is from saccing gravecrawler and messenger to aristocrat. That's mainly why I MBed pillars, because this was the only matchup that I was worried about.
G1 I was on the play and got an opener with pillar, farseek, and souls. He opened with t1 gravecrawler, t2 knight, t3 messenger, t4 hellrider. I farseeked t2 for a red source, souls on t3 and held off the knight/crawler. he played messenger into a pillar from me and a flashback of souls. Turn 4 he played hellrider and attacked with all. souls tokens took out knight and crawler and chumped hellrider. From there I just started playing thragtusk, angel and rites to pump my life way up and ended the game with a few tokens swinging huge pumps from wolf run.
G2 i brought in bonfire of the damned for avacyn's pylgrim (he just get's burned out anyway). I went farseek into huntmaster into angel/rites. He played 3 hellkites in a row and had me looking pretty bad, but I topdecked a bonfire like a champ and cleared his board. From there he tried to re-gas with weenies while I gained life with a thragtusk and flipped wolf on his land-only drops to kill his weenies, then souls/farseek on my turn to change him back.
I deffinitely would have lost at least one game here if it weren't for pillar.
Match 4 GW midrange 2-0
G1 The main thing I have in my notes here is that I out thragtusked him and that I luck-drew a land I needed. He attacked with his and I attacked with mine and the main reason I won this game was because I got to re-use my thragtusks more often than his. he got an angel of serenity out, but I ended up killing it with a huntmaster/vault when he didn't have anything to play and finished him off.
G2 I brought in bonfire and started with one in my opening hand. He started with turn 3 loxodon smiter into t3 silverblade into archangel. I got t1 pilgrim into t2 farseek, t3 thragtusk and t5 bonfire for 4 wiping his board. From there I laid a huntmaster and got vault of the archangel online. Wasn't much he could do after that (vault of the archangel rules with huntmaster by the way).
Match 5 UW flash, the guy who wanted me to test this 2-1
He didn't know I brought in the pillars. They were 2 o-ring and 2 selesnya charm.
G1 I was on the draw. He came out with geist, countered my stuff and beat my face in.
I play t4 huntmaster and he allows and sweeps. I slaughter games him for revelations. From there I just out CA him. He was holding a counter and if he would have used it I would have been in a much worse spot.
G3 I mull to 5 but end up with cavern, silverblade, huntmaster, another land, and I think a rites. cavern set to human and get a silverblade/huntmaster out to meet his geist. He digs for a sweeper and I manage to get his life down to 11. He sweeps with 3 mana left up. I know he only plays 1 dissipate and hope for the best and play a thragtusk. It resolves. We go round and round with him controlling the board and drawing cards off revelation I guess hoping to go to time and draw. I slaughter games his revelation with a minute to go and end up winning off a tusk + paladin + wolf run 2 turns after time.
Summary:
I loved the deck and all the interactions it provides. The mana base is surprisingly stable, although the 4 color can make you mull more than you'd like (In my notes I have that I had to mull 3 times due to off-colors in my opening hand). As long as you can get around that and mulligan properly then you're pretty well set. The deck top-decks amazingly and you're never out of gas, although it seems like the value creatures have a hard time putting pressure on control players. Silverblade and wolf run was an amazing combination vs control, allowing me to just come out of nowhere and swing for 20 pts of damage.
Pillar and lingering souls are my mvp vs fast red and zombies. Vs aggro you're just looking to survive till t4-5, and these 2 let you do that consistently, every single game.
Pretty much every single control list relies on sphinx's revelations. I may put slaughter games up to 3 in the SB to make sure I can grab this card a little more consistently. Once you games their revelation they're hosed.
I'd really like to test this deck in a bigger tournament against x-factor decks, but as of right now, I look at it as having at least 50/50 vs control and probably something like an 80% win vs aggro.
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Big thanks to DarkNightCavalier from heroes of the planes studios for the sig!
Went 3-4 at the TCGPlayer Diamond 5k in Indianapolis yesterday. I attribute most of the bad luck to facing 5 URW decks and having next to no testing against them, and getting mana flooded way too many times.
RUW was THE deck in the room - I'm willing to bet it comprised at least 40% of the field. The night before we tested against Frites, Jund, Bant, Rakdos Sligh...but not American Control.
Round 1 I lost to Sphinx's revelation for 8 in response to what should have been lethal damage, and getting stuck on 2 mana after a mull to 6 in the second game.
Round 2 I tore through the guy and killed him with smiters and paladins. Game two turn 3 thragtusk got there.
Round 3 my turn 2 smiter gets locked up by azorius arrester, then lyev skyknight, then resto flickering arrester. I get garruk online and get enough for the kill while sitting on 4 life, but his thalia kills a beast and a morbid brimstone volley before lethal damage ends it. Game 2 I run him over with paladin paired with resto and sigarda. Game 3 I keep a hand of forest, sunpetal grove, pilgrim, arbor elf, smiter, smiter, paladin. He pillars both my mana dorks and I never see the 3rd land.
Round 4 was Frites and I outraced him both games. Didn't even need RiP.
Round 5 my opponent mulls to 5 on the play game 1, then 6 on the play game 2, gets mana screwed both times and I curve out.
Round 6 I still don't know what it was. Between Sphinx's Revelation, Huntmaster of the Fells, Maindeck Izzet Staticasters and Armada Wurm, all I know is that I couldn't stop four different deck's wincons at the same time.
Round 7 I faced Angel of Glory's Rise Rites. Game 1 he combos off on 8 life. Game 2 I Rest in Peace him the turn before he can go off, game 3 I get stuck on 3 lands with a hand full of 4 and 5-drops after my mana bugs get burnt off.
Here's what I learned:
-Thalia is like the leylines: great in your opening hand, dead if drawn later. I saw her so rarely, but with three in the deck I should expect to see one in my opening hand at least once. When I did cast her, she just ate a pillar and they moved on like it was nothing. Also, she's really bad against decks with Izzet Staticaster.
-Artifact Removal is more important now than ever. Runechanter's Pike is a card that's seeing tons of play, and if you don't have a way to remove it, then you may as well scoop up your cards and walk away. It's that good. Sundering growth is likely the card to run in the board for it.
-Don't go overboard with boarding. This is something I was taught the night before, but it still applies. The best way to win matches against decks that give you issues is to have a specific SB plan for the decks you plan to see, and stick to that plan. Write them down if you have to - you're allowed to review them between games. If something completely out of right field comes at you (5 color midrange in my case) then you have to improvise, but knowing what you cut and what you add before you start the match goes a long way in helping your deck and your play.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Went 3-4 at the TCGPlayer Diamond 5k in Indianapolis yesterday. I attribute most of the bad luck to facing 5 URW decks and having next to no testing against them, and getting mana flooded way too many times.
Looks solid, although a bit stacked with 5-6 drops. I think you run the risk of losing a game or two when they kill your mana bugs and you lose with 5-drops stranded in your hand.
Game 3 I keep a hand of forest, sunpetal grove, pilgrim, arbor elf, smiter, smiter, paladin. He pillars both my mana dorks and I never see the 3rd land.
I'd say 'like that', but with 3 three mana dudes I'd feel a little hard done by.
Round 6 I still don't know what it was. Between Sphinx's Revelation, Huntmaster of the Fells, Maindeck Izzet Staticasters and Armada Wurm, all I know is that I couldn't stop four different deck's wincons at the same time.
Shouldn't you be able to plow over 4 colour monstrosities?
Round 7 I faced Angel of Glory's Rise Rites. Game 1 he combos off on 8 life. Game 2 I Rest in Peace him the turn before he can go off, game 3 I get stuck on 3 lands with a hand full of 4 and 5-drops after my mana bugs get burnt off.
-Thalia is like the leylines: great in your opening hand, dead if drawn later. I saw her so rarely, but with three in the deck I should expect to see one in my opening hand at least once. When I did cast her, she just ate a pillar and they moved on like it was nothing. Also, she's really bad against decks with Izzet Staticaster.
Just like a mana bug?
I look at Thalia and mana bugs as being the same sort of card. Specifically, a Time Walk. Each one puts us a turn ahead of the opponent. And when we have 10-11 time walks, they can only have 4 Pillar of Flame.... I like those odds.
-Artifact Removal is more important now than ever. Runechanter's Pike is a card that's seeing tons of play, and if you don't have a way to remove it, then you may as well scoop up your cards and walk away. It's that good. Sundering growth is likely the card to run in the board for it.
Or Oblivion Ring? Since sometimes you really want to kill a planeswalker or Olivia.
-Don't go overboard with boarding. This is something I was taught the night before, but it still applies. The best way to win matches against decks that give you issues is to have a specific SB plan for the decks you plan to see, and stick to that plan. Write them down if you have to - you're allowed to review them between games. If something completely out of right field comes at you (5 color midrange in my case) then you have to improvise, but knowing what you cut and what you add before you start the match goes a long way in helping your deck and your play.
Yeah, I totally agree with this. It's something I am guilty of too.
I've considered it - ran it as a two-of at states. It's got merit against URW but I'll need to test it.
Looks solid, although a bit stacked with 5-6 drops. I think you run the risk of losing a game or two when they kill your mana bugs and you lose with 5-drops stranded in your hand.
Duly noted. The armada wurms are likely on their way out - I think I only cast one the entire day.
I'd say 'like that', but with 3 three mana dudes I'd feel a little hard done by.
Agreed. If he doesn't have the double pillar he's untapping turn 4 on 8 life.
Nice. Did you draw well, or do you feel favoured in the matchup generally?
I got fast hands. RIP helps if you can't hit them really quickly, but with a hot enough start you can steal game 1.
Shouldn't you be able to plow over 4 colour monstrosities?
In theory, yeah. But turn 3 huntmaster into turn 4 resto, then revelation for 4 next turn? It's three different attack patterns coming at you, and if you stop any one, he goes to the others.
Ahem.
I know, I know. But I didn't feel like I could go to 5 against his seven. I was wrong.
Just like a mana bug?
I look at Thalia and mana bugs as being the same sort of card. Specifically, a Time Walk. Each one puts us a turn ahead of the opponent. And when we have 10-11 time walks, they can only have 4 Pillar of Flame.... I like those odds.
Or Oblivion Ring? Since sometimes you really want to kill a planeswalker or Olivia.
Yeah, I totally agree with this. It's something I am guilty of too.
On Thalia, mainboarding her was a mistake. Without a way to pump her toughness, staticaster just nukes her without a fight. She's still good, but the board is where you need to keep her.
Oblivion ring can deal with pike, but summering growth does so permanently, and at instant speed. Once it's equipped, it's usually too late to turn the game around. I now pack two of each in the board.
With Thalia moving to the board, strangleroot Geist fills her place as a wrath-resistant beater. Armada Wurm also leaves in favor of wolfir avenger, whose 3 toughness and flash allows for more utility against control builds in general, while lowering the curve as well. Wolfir silverheart, while amazingly powerful, is a bit too expensive for the already-clogged 5-drop slot. I may test a bit with ulvenwald tracker, though - it allows me to be rid of things outside combat, including pike'd things, without worrying about first strike.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
On Thalia, mainboarding her was a mistake. Without a way to pump her toughness, staticaster just nukes her without a fight. She's still good, but the board is where you need to keep her.
I don't think that the decision to MD or SB Thalia should be based on Izzet Staticaster. I think that's definitely a rogue deck and not worth tinkering our deck around because of it.
With Thalia moving to the board, strangleroot Geist fills her place as a wrath-resistant beater. Armada Wurm also leaves in favor of wolfir avenger, whose 3 toughness and flash allows for more utility against control builds in general, while lowering the curve as well.
I have been running both Thalia and Geist for a while now (like you, I was finding that my opponents would *always* pillar my T1 dork, so having actual two drops lets me continue to curve out against them).
I really like Wolfir Avenger in theory, but vs UW at least he's just worse than Strangleroot Geist to me, since he doesn't hit as hard before being captured by Detention Sphere, and it's surprisingly hard to keep 1G open and pressure them.
I do love having more things to do at instant speed though, and producing a 5/3 regenerating trampler out of thin air is always fun.
Wolfir silverheart, while amazingly powerful, is a bit too expensive for the already-clogged 5-drop slot. I may test a bit with ulvenwald tracker, though - it allows me to be rid of things outside combat, including pike'd things, without worrying about first strike.
Yeah, there are a whole bunch of cards, like SRG, both Wolfirs, Tracker, Faiths Shield, Sublime Archangel, Thragtusk, that on the surface of things LOOK like they are worth a slot, and definitely have their champions. Ass opposed to the core of Pilgrim/Elf/Thalia/Smiter/Paladin/Resto/Rancor/Charm that is basically set in stone, at least for me.
So I ran this. Went 3-2, losing both of the matches to ****ing UW control. What the hell can we do against a deck that sees 4 Terminus in a game? I brought in Garruk, Primal Hunter and Thragtusk and it didn't help at all.
Modern:
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Abzan Company
EDH:
Mono-Green Omnath
Mono-White Odric Soup
Mono-Blue Muzzio
Mono-Red Feldon
Garruk, Thalia and Thragtusk are pretty much the only options we have. Try to lure them to use detention spheres on your smiter for example and then play garruk. I know its very frustrating when they are like "oh look! I just top decked terminus, jace and double spheres and look! It's Entreat! I must be a very good player."
Just try to play Garruk (around Detention Sphere).
Modern
WUBRG
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Centaur Healer
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusk
Spells:
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Selesnya Charm
5 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Gavony Township
3 Knight of Glory
2 Rest in Peace
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Selesnya Charm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Mizzium Mortars
Round 1: GW Midrange. W 2-1
Player/Deck Quality: 5/10
G1: He got stuck on 1 mana for 3 turns and just huntmastered him to death
Sb:-3 Thalia, -1 Charm
+2 o ring, +2 primal hunter
G2: he curved out to t3 primal hunter. Gg
G3: I hit 2 pillar and 2 huntmaster and just killed everything
Round 2: GW Midrange. W 2-0
Player/deck Quality: 6.5/10
G1: I out tempo him and Crusade to victory
Sb:-3 Thalia, +2 o ring, +1 Primal hunter
G2: we stale mate for a few turns until he lands trostani, then goes to 62 to my 12 before u bonfire for 9. I land my single primal hunter and then ultimate for 11 wurms 4 turns later.
Round 3: RDW. W 2-1.
Player/deck quality: 5.5/10
G1: 2 thrag and a resto sweep the game... Draw no red
Sb: -3 bonfire, +2 Charm, +1 relentless
G2:I hit a slower hand than I thought, before long I have a resto and 3 smiters vs 2 nobles, a cackler, shredfreak, chainwalker and a hellrider. I got to 2 with a thrag and 3hm in my hand, no red again. Pray for topdeck land.. No.... Pillar for win
Sb: -3 pillar, +3 knight of glory
G3: he opens with noble, me a knight. Follow with a healer, hm #1 dies, hm #2 flips and then I swing for 5 from exalted trigger pots him to 7. Follow with another swing, no blocks? Charm him up to 7.
Round 4: ID with RW Humans
Top 8: Bant. W 2-0
Player/deck quality: 8/10
G1: play t2 Thalia, follow with smiter. He plays thrag, temp him with bad blocks, 2 Jace and 2 sweepers, a thrag and smiter later i'm pumping gavony into them for game
Sb: -3 pillar, -3 bonfire, -3 healer, -1 visionary
+2 charm, +2 primal hunter, +2 o ring, +2 rip, +1 ray, +1 needle
G2: Thalia and smiter again led the charge. He Serenityed them, I charmed that away. 2 d sphere, 2 Jace, a thrag and 2 sphx revelation. I tempoed him to death.
Both games he did get an abundant amount of land but an abundant amount of card draw. Also in hindsight he did misplay Jaces in g1 attempting to slow me down.
Top4: RW Humans. W 2-1.
Player/deck quality: 7.5/10
G1: 3 Thalia, 1 hm, a pillar, a pilgrim and 11 lands later I was dead.
Sb: -3 Thalia, +2 o.ring, +1 relentless
G2: no red, but I hit a thrag, resto and a few smiter, he got a slow rolling hand after a mull to 6.
G3: arrester tempos me out of t2 smiter. Plays ajani, I play thrag, then silver blade his the board. I rip an o ring, hit paladin, and take ajani to 1 with thrag and pilgrim, smiter again and take control of the game to his dismay
Comments
Loved the deck. Having issues pulling red. Hated the mortars. Rip didn't seem as necessary as it should have
Standard:
BGW Abzan Control BGW
WU Azorius Heroic WU
Islands are used to pay the colorless parts of green spells.
I did like how the deck handled Bant though. I do like 4 charms for Bant. That way they can't use Serenity angel to get their stuff back. I never felt desperate for topdecks except my first selesnya charm for the Serenity.
Standard:
BGW Abzan Control BGW
WU Azorius Heroic WU
Islands are used to pay the colorless parts of green spells.
4 Plains
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Gavony Township
4 Avacyn Pilgrim
4 Arbor Elf
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Silverblade Paladin
2 Centaur Healer
2 Wolfir Avenger
3 Restoration Angel
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Thragtusk
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Garruk Relentless
4 Rancor
2 Selesnya Charm
2 Faith's Shield
2 Rest in Peace
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Dryad Militant
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Ray of Revelation
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Revenge of the Hunted
The first match I played against a guy with Adam Prosak's U/W Midrange list. I playtest with a friend's UWR Tempo deck and it gives me fits. Playing U/W was about the same experience.
Game 1 is me playing a single Loxodon Smiter for a number of turns. Then I watch it get hit with Unsummon, Azorious Charm, Snapcaster Mage/Unsummon, and Snapcaster Mage/Azorius Charm so many times that I lose count. I get killed by a pair of Snapcasters and an Augur of Bolas.
Game 2 I bring in Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Dryad Militant. It is basically a repeat of the first game, except I stick a Thalia and it just takes him an extra turn or two to establish tempo. He sticks a Runechanter's Pike after playing a good number of instants/sorceries. I draw a Dryad Militant after Pike has already become an absolute force of nature and I weep for my battered soul. I realize that I should've probably brought in Rest in Peace. I tell the guy how much I miss Thrun.
Second match is against RDW. But not the really scary version that runs Thundermaw Hellkite. My opponent is playing the cheaper, but still decent, version that runs Stromkirk Noble. Felt like I was going to win this one (lol).
Game 1 is how I expect the games to go. Stick a Centaur Healer. Cast a Thragtusk later. Win.
Game 2 I don't really side in much. Have a pretty solid hand with some nice 3-drops and keep it. Resolve a Loxodon Smiter and Rancor it, and it later gets stolen with Traitorous Blood and hits me for a lot. 3 Silverblade Paladin sit in my hand all game as I can only hit one white source, so I can never put together much of a defense.
Game 3 I side out Sigarda, Host of Herons for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Figure it trades with most of his creatures profitably, while making his burn a lot slower. I don't draw one. Instead I stick another Loxodon/Rancor, it gets stolen again while I have Faith's Shield in my hand (but I only have one white source, AGAIN), see no life gain, and I get burnt out. I am totally ****ing embarrassed and rethink what I am doing with my life.
I play the third match because I don't want to go home 0-2. I'm up against Reanimator. Game 1 I overwhelm him with Loxodon Smiter and Sigarda, Host of Herons beats. Game 2 I see a Rest in Peace and that's essentially that.
What I realize is I need at least a third Thragtusk, and maybe another Centaur Healer. I never regenerated Wolfir Avenger once.
Also realizing I need to do something about this U/W problem. Feel like I need to bring Cavern of Souls into the mix. I need a way to turn Sigarda into Thrun, the Last Troll. I just have a really hard time establishing board presence against these decks unless they just simply draw bad hands.
Also feeling pretty unimpressed with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I thought that if she's good enough for Legacy, she's good enough for Standard. But she really doesn't do enough against these U/W/R and Bant lists. She's really solid against tokens, but I don't think that she should earn a sideboard slot based on that. I guess if Esper Tokens becomes a big thing she'll be good, but right now I feel like she needs replacing.
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Arbor Elf
2 Call of the Conclave
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Restoration Angel
2 Sublime Archangel
3 Thragtusk
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Armada Wurm
3 Selesnya Charm
3 Rancor
2 Garruk Relentless
3 Selesnya Keyrune
Lands
8 Forest
5 Plains
3 Gavony Township
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Centaur Healer
3 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ray of Revelation
I felt like I had pretty easy matchups:
Round 1:W Vs. Naya Midrange, 2-1
Game 1: We both clutter the board with fatties, but he can't find an answer for Sublime archangel.
Game 2: I keep a slow hand, and get punished as he goes elf into farseek into double huntmaster.
Game 3: Another cluttered board, but Armada Wurm + township is too much for him to deal with.
Round 2:W Vs. Epic Experiment, 2-1 (more creature based than combo based, although Increasing Devotion is the main wincon)
Game 1: Double smiter + rancor is too fast for him
Game 2: Don't draw any hate cards (RIP does work in this matchup), and he goes off before I can kill him
Game 3: Land RIP, Thalia, early Garruk, PH. He hits terminus several times, but Keyrune, Garruk tokens do work.
Round 3: W Vs. Either Epic Experiment or American control, 2-0. I didn't see very much of his deck - he barely played anything either game
Game 1: Fast hand of Call into Smiter into Archangel
Game 2: I mull to 5, he goes to 4 on the play, and scoops pretty fast. My opponent was on tilt pretty hard this matchup.
Round 4: ID vs Bant Control
We didn't play this matchup - We drew, then opponent had to go. My deck isn't nearly as fast as the all in aggro, so this is a bad matchup for me and I probably would have lost.
Overall thoughts:
I got pretty lucky overall, but I do play this deck on cockatice a lot and I like it. It obviously has identity issues; it is stuck smack dab between going all in rancor/silverblade/sublime and the resto/thrag package. Eventually, I'll try the hyper aggro version, but Thrag/Sigarda are so good against a lot of the decks in the format right now.
Individual card thoughts:
Keyrune goes a long way to shoring up bad matchups. It probably doesn't belong in the aggro version, but it helps tremendously against decks that wrath, and since most of the removal in the format is sorcery speed, it rarely dies outside of combat. It also is a mana rock that can't get pillared, and can lead to fun early drops. One time online, I landed a turn 3 Armada wurm with it (t1 elf, t2 keyrune into elf, +landrops = 6 mana). Against aggro, I do an automatic swap into healers post board.
Rest in Peace - 3 seems like a lot, but when you want it, you really want it. It destroys reanimator, as well as coming in against a lot of the rogue brews.
Thalia - Thalia has been mediocre in testing, but I think she's the best we have to combat control decks. At the very least, she slows down control decks by a turn or two, and if she sticks she can take over games where the opponent is hoping to durdle for a while before wrathing.
Armada Wurm - Broodmate wurm is either very good, or very bad. In creature mirrors, it usually trumps whatever the opponent has out, as ten trampling power is hard for most creature based decks to deal with, especially split between two creatures. It is bad in Control, where it likely gets wrath'd away anyways.
Problems: GW Aggro - I'm usually a turn or two slower than them, and even with outs, silverblade is really hard to interact with. Other aggro decks I can stall out enough against (RDW, GB/RB Zombies), especially with healers post board, but GW aggro is rough.
Bant Control: Sphinx's Revelation and Angel of Serenity are backbreaking, and all the extra creatures make this much harder to deal with than staight UW miracles.
4x Arbor Elf
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Loxodon Smiter
4x Restoration Angel
2x Sigarda, Host of Herons
4x Silverblade Paladin
3x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
4x Wolfir Silverheart
8x Forest
6x Plains
2x Rogue's Passage
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
Instant (3)
3x Selesnya Charm
Enchantment (3)
3x Rancor
Planeswalker (2)
2x Garruk Relentless
2x Silklash Spider
3x Thragtusk
3x Wolfir Avenger
2x Ray of Revelation
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
2x Pithing Needle
2x Oblivion Ring
Played against Mono-G Fight Club R1, Frites R2, and RUG Midrange R3. Dropped my G3 against Frites to some really stupid misplays on my part (O-Ringed a Thragtusk when he had a Griselbrand in his GY).
Overall, I'm pretty well sold on Rogue's Passage at this point. That card won me 3 different games by pushing through a bonded Silverheart or a bonded Sigarda for lethal.
Modern:
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Abzan Company
EDH:
Mono-Green Omnath
Mono-White Odric Soup
Mono-Blue Muzzio
Mono-Red Feldon
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Huntmaster of the Fells
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Restoration Angel
3x Thragtusk
3x Borderland Ranger
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Zealous Conscripts
Sorceries
4x Farseek
2x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Entreat the Angels
2x Pillar of Flame
4x Selesnya Charm
Lands
5x Forest
4x Temple Garden
3x Rootbound Crag
2x Sunpetal Grove
3x Clifftop Retreat
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Gavony Township
3x Ground Seal
2x Plummet
2x Centaur Healer
2x Pithing Needle
2x Acidic Slime
2x Dryad Militant
1x Zealous Conscripts
1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
Round 1 – Bant Control
Round 2 – G/W Midrange
Round 3 – U/W Control
Round 4 – Junk Tokens/Aggro
Top 4 – Omniscience
I'm strongly considering putting a third Entreat in, simply because it's almost always a game-ender or a way to turn the tides when I'm way behind board presence-wise.
Currently playing:
WGR Naya Midrange WGR
WG Tempered Steel GW[retired]
Modern:
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Abzan Company
EDH:
Mono-Green Omnath
Mono-White Odric Soup
Mono-Blue Muzzio
Mono-Red Feldon
4x Avacyn’s Pilgrims
4x Silverblade Paladin
3x Fiend Hunter
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Centaur Healer
4x Restoration Angel
1x Sublime Archangel
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
4x Thragtusk
1x Armada Wurm
1x Angel of Serenity
4x Rancor
4x Temple Garden
2x Gavony Township
6x Plains
7x Forests
4x Faith’s Reward
2x Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice
1x Heroes’ Reunion
1x Cebtaur Healer
1x Elixer of Immortality
1x Fiend Hunter
4x Nevermore
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
Round 1 vs Izzit Gutersnipe/Talrand/Bonfire homebrew: 2-1
Round 2 vs Junk midrange/ramp (I think) 2-0
Round 3 vs BG Zombies 2-1
Round 4 vs Mirror 2-1
Round 5 vs Frisghts 1-1-1
4 Forest
1 Gavony Township
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (19):
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Restoration Angel
3 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Thragtusk
3 Armada Wurm
4 Farseek
1 Ultimate Price
3 Entreat the Angels
4 Lingering Souls
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Erase
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Plummet
1 Slayer of the Wicked
2 Purify the Grave
1 Ground Seal
1 Ultimate Price
2 Cavern of Souls
Game 1: 2-0 win vs. Bant Control.
Game 2: 2-0 win vs. UWR Tempo
Game 3: 2-0 win vs. Heartless Summoning
Game 4: 1-2 loss vs. B/R Zombies
Game 5: 2-0 win vs. U/W Humans
Game 6: Draw for top 8.
Game 7: 1-2 Loss vs. UWR Tempo (a different player from game 5).
A little disappointed with game 3 of my top 8 game, as I stupidly kept a 5 land Farseek Restoration Angel hand and my opponent had an insane tempo hand. He is my friend anyway so I was fine with him beating me.
Other than that, I felt that this deck is really strong against most decks. I was the only guy undefeated at the end of round 3.
It does struggle against tempo if they get their game going, but that requires very precise play and good draws on their part. It also struggles against massive early damage, as demonstrated by my loss to zombies. Guy had 2 blood artists out on the last game and there wasn't much I could do after he appetite for brains'd my sever the bloodline.
Random miracle'd entreats won me so many games that I think it is the most important card in midrange decks running white. Trostani performed incredibly the whole day, even against control. I wasn't disappointed with any card in my deck, and would happily play the same 75 for another major event.
Let me know if anyone wants any details on any of my matchups.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
6 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Wolfir Avenger
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Sublime Archangel
4 Wolf Silverheart
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Revenge of the Hunted
4 Thragtusk
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Wild Beastmaster
3 Faith's Shield
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Nevermore
Game 1: Faced off against a strange Naya home-brew. Felt like I should have won this game, maybe I was overconfident. His cards were no slouches, with the red splash carrying Bonfire, Pillar, and Thundermaw Hellkite. Other than that, it was similar to our Thragtusk/Restoration Angel build but with Farseeks over Mana dorks (to grab the relevant color fixing.) Took Round 1 with a double Sublime Archangel, double Rancor for obscene damage. He sideboards almost his entire board, I add the Faith's Shield. I think he took it on the sideboarding because he won the next two games.
1-2 Loss
Game 2: Sit down at the table across from a frenemy of mine who usually runs control. He's a nice guy when you talk to him, but sitting across the table he turns into a huge rules lawyer, becoming anal over tapping your guys before "declaring attack", stuff like that. Today is no exception and he is playing 4 color control, basically Bant Control with a hint of black for removal. Before Game 1 starts, the judge comes and grabs me, telling me I only had 59 cards in my deck. I had accidentally written down 5 plains instead of 6 because I had switched the mana around the night before >_<. The Game Loss for Round 1 was really tough, I really wanted to beat this guy. I go on to win the first game by playing 2 separate Garruk PH and smashing him to death with beast tokens. We go on to have a close match for Game 3, I get him low but he locks it up with Jace and Tamiyo, gets the ultimate on Tamiyo and then plays Terminus. Game.
1-2 Loss, 0-2 Night
Game 3: Sit down against another person I've played before. This guy has pro-tour experience and I expect to lose this game, but he says he's having a bad night. Drops a bunch of non-basic lands and throws down Jund Zombies. He gets me low, I get a silverblade and sublime on the board, attack, attack again and Garruk PH for 7 cards from Sublime, win. Sideboard in Tusks and Faith's Shield for Game 2. Don't get Tusk or shield next game, proceed to lose. Get Tusk and 2 Shields Game 3, win. Simple as that.
2-1 Win, 1-2 Night
Game 4: Slightly re-energized, I sit down against a guy I've never seen before. His english was limited so we had to play by pointing. Fortunately he was pure RDW so you don't have to do much besides point even if you speak English, LOL. He got screwed both games. Game 1 he hit me with a Vexing Devil, a couple Stromkrik Noble attacks, and a searing spear. I turned the game around when I flashed in an avenger to eat one of the nobles, and proceeded to stomp him into the ground with my superior attack force. Game 2 he mulligans to 5 and still doesn't get a land. I put him out of his misery quick with a Stangleroot Geist bonded to Silverblade Paladin and miracle Revenge of the Hunted.
2-0 Win, 2-2 Night
Game 5: Never met this guy before but he was really cool and fun to play against. He used pokemon cards for beast tokens and we both agreed to roll 8 dice to see who goes first instead of the usual 2. He was also on the same page as me about "playing loose". If I tap my guy to swing and he goes "wait I want to Feeling of Dread", then in both of our minds the effect resolves how the rules intend and the game proceeds as it should. So first game he plays three lingering souls and flashes them all back. There are a lot of souls on the board and a Detention Sphere sure would be nice. Or perhaps that Thundermaw from the Naya home-brew I played earlier... But alas. I proceed to make inroads pounding him with green/white dudes and then he drops Sorin. Disrupts my game with interactive cards and proceeds to smash in the air twice for 12. Games 2 and 3 proceed in somewhat similar fashion but no Sorin hits the board. I sided in Nevermore, drew Nevermore and called Sorin for Game 3. Maybe that helped. He hit a miracle Entreat the Angels twice but only for 1 and then for 2. If either of those entreats had been bigger it would have been game on my end, so that was complete luck in my favor. All 3 games were really close and the term "Good Game" truly applied to these matches. I won in game 3.
2-1 Win, 3-2 Night
Top 8 Round 1: Sit down against a guy my age. He's polite but it's clear he isn't messing around. Taps fast, plays fast, barely says anything. He's playing black and red not-zombies, "Dos Rakdos" or whatever they're calling it these days. I know everybody always, ALWAYS says this but I really did get screwed the first hand. Didn't mulligan with 2 forests and 2 Avacyn's Pilgrims, so maybe it's partially my fault but I had no way to know he was playing burn. He shoots my 2 pilgrims in the face with burn and proceeds to pound me into the dirt with Smash Zealot while I'm holding a hand full of Silverblade Paladins and Sublime Archangels. Game 2 goes somewhat better. I side in the Thragtusks and get one off, then Rancor one and Garruk PH him to draw 7 cards. We race and it comes down to a single turn, but he still pulls it off with 2 Deathrite Shamans exiling his burn from the graveyard for extra damage. His deck was good, he was good, and the deathrite shamans were an innovative addition to the current RDW meta. He deserved to win.
Thoughts:
I think I did pretty good for getting a game loss against a tough opponent, and by working on minimizing play errors like forgetting to attack with an arbor elf early on I think I can take this deck even further. It just needs a little bit of so-called "inbreeding" for the current meta.
The Faith's Shield and Thragtusks saw a lot of play from the sideboard. I'm dropping down to three Wolfir Silverhearts and adding a Faith's Shield back to the mainboard.
Also dropping one of the Oblivion Rings for a Fiend Hunter, with an idea to get back the lost synergy from subtracting a creature.
Altering sideboard somewhat as well. It seems like my maindeck transitions usually bubble up from the sideboard, so that's the logical place to start.
Surprised by the amount of aggro and zombies at the game (myself included even though it's borderline mid-range). I feel it was an aberration of the current meta and won't think too much of it unless I see this trend continue.
SCG Open Series Dallas
465 participants, 10 rounds
I was expecting to play a Junk Ramp deck, primarily GW (Angel of Serenity, Restoration Angel, Thragtusk) with black mostly for removal and Vault of the Archangel. I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, and when I saw Adam Witton's Naya Ramp deck from GP Auckland, I was all in for swapping out the black removal for burn, and exchanging the Vault for Kessig Wolf Run.
The deck I played:
4 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Cavern of Souls
Creatures
4 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusk
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Angel of Serenity
2 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Farseek
2 Selesnya Charm
2 Selesnya Keyrune
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Devil's Play
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Devil's Play
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Purify the Grave
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Ray of Revelation
3 Loxodon Smiter
1 Terminus
1 Centaur Healer
This was basically Adam Witton's deck, with just a couple of changes. First, the decklist in Wizard's coverage seemed off, as has been noted here in the forums, so I swapped out 2 Selesnya Guildgate as shown in the decklist for 2 Selesnya Keyrune. Second, there has been much more countermagic showing up on MTGO, so I swapped the 3rd Guildgate in the original list for a Cavern of Souls, and I exchanged the 4th Garruk, Primal Hunter in the SB for another Cavern. Interestingly, it seems that at least 2 others in the SCG field were playing Witton's main deck, but they continued to use the Guildgates and no Keyrunes. I felt that the Keyrunes were key in a number of my matches, both from an acceleration standpoint and to allow some continued pressure after a board sweep.
R1 v 4-color Frites: G1 the opp reanimated an Armada Wurm on T4, but an Oblivion Ring plus a Selesnya Charm took care of the 5/5s. He found no other big creatures, and a Beast token trampled over his spirit tokens with the help of Kessig Wolf Run to finish him. G2 he reanimated Griselbrand on T4, and though an O-Ring took him out as well, the cards he drew in response allowed him to eventually reanimate a Craterhoof Behemoth to end the game. G3 he was land flooded, and I had a Purify the Grave in hand but never needed it before Selesnya Keyrune and Thragtusk trampled over his spirits for the win. (1-0, 2-1 games)
R2 v Bant Mid-Range: G1 Garruk, Primal Hunter kept generating Beasts and eventually trampling guys got through his creatures. G2 I mulliganed and couldn't draw enough guys to keep up with his. G3 he had more Angel of Serenitys, but it took too long and time ran out for the draw. (1-0-1, 3-2-1 games)
R3 v UW Mid-Range: Both games Bonfire of the Damned cleared his board and a Wolf Run-fueled trampler, mostly Restoration Angel, closed him out. (2-0-1, 5-2-1 games)
R4 v 4-color Frites: G1 I accelerated into an Angel of Serenity, and knocked him down to 2. He finally got his own AoS in the graveyard and he reanimated it to take mine. I had another in hand, but he found another next turn, so we danced for at least 5 turns casting AoS every turn (I was hoping to draw any burn card), until he finally broke the symmetry by casting 2 Thragtusks instead to gain some life. I then dropped a Wolf Run and pumped my AoS up to 12 power for the win. G2 saw him reanimate Craterhoof Behemoth for about 40 for the win. G3 he mulliganed to 5, and I got a God draw of acceleration into T3 Sigarda, Host of Herons, T4 Thragtusk and attack for 5, T5 attack for 10 and Devil's Play for the win. (3-0-1, 7-3-1 games)
R5 v UW Mid-Range: G1 he mulliganed and was land light. Thragtusk and an Avacyn's Pilgrim killed him. G2 he blinked his Borderland Rangers with Restoration Angels every turn to stymie my attacks on the ground, and he flew over my guys for the win. G3 went to time with him attacking every turn with a guy equipped with Runechanter's Pike and me having enough guys (from AoS bringing back my guys from the graveyard) to throw in front of him so I didn't die. (3-0-2, 8-4-2 games)
R6 v Junk Tokens: G1 we both cast 2 Thragtusks, but Wolf Run made mine better. An Angel of Serenity joined in and Devil's Play ended it. G2 he cast a few Lingering Souls, but Bonfire killed all of the spirits and my guys killed him from 15 in one attack. (4-0-2, 10-4-2 games)
R7 v Bant Mid-Range: G1 a Huntmaster of the Fells flipped back and forth a few times and a Bonfire killed off his guys. G2 Sigarda was vital. His 2 AoS couldn't target her, and I O-Ringed both of them and kept pumping Sigarda with Wolf Run for the win confident that he couldn't kill or bounce her. (5-0-2, 12-4-2 games)
R8 v UW Control: G1 I'm not sure what happened. He must have drawn all lands, because I attacked him a few times with a Pilgrim and a Restoration Angel, then burned him twice with Devil's Play and then with Bonfire with him having no counters. G2 I boarded out the burn and brought in the Loxodon Smiters and Sigarda, and with a Cavern of Souls set to Angels he couldn't counter any of my guys. He swept the board twice, but I kept playing more uncounterable guys and won. (6-0-2, 14-4-2 games)
R9 v UW Control (yet again): G1 I got him to 3, but he gained lots of life and drew lots of cards with Sphinx's Revelation and I suddenly couldn't win against his sweepers. G2 he countered one Garruk, but a second one stuck, and Beast tokens and a Selesnya Keyrune kept attacking through his sweepers for the win. We started G3 late, and time ran out. (6-0-3, 15-5-3 games)
R10 v Jund Mid-Range: Finally out of Top 8 contention, I was determined to make Top 16. G1 I was done in by his Wolf Run and Thragtusks. G2 we both had Thragtusks, but AoS finally appeared and a late Devil's Play did the last 5 damage. G3 Sigarda was unstoppable. O-Ring killed one of his Olivia Voldarens before she could become big enough to block Sigarda, Bonfire killed the second Olivia, and his third Olivia (!) had to chump Sigarda one last time before she finally killed him. (7-0-3, 17-6-3 games)
Overall, I loved the deck. Having 10 ramp cards seemed just right to me, and my lands held up for all 10 rounds with very few mulligans. Since I got into the "draw bracket" early and saw no aggro decks, my least-used and most-often boarded out cards were the Huntmasters. They were still useful at times and I would probably keep them in, but I might try to find room to move Sigarda to the main, maybe by taking out the 4th Huntmaster and possibly a Garruk. My MVPs for the day were probably Sigarda, Kessig Wolf Run, and Bonfire, with Cavern of Souls, Oblivion Ring and Angel of Serenity also key at times. The singles Terminus and Centaur Healer in the SB did nothing all day, but I can see their worth against aggro. The Zealous Conscripts did nothing either, and even though I boarded them in a few times, I never really wanted them in any of my matchups.
Too bad about the control matchups. I have a naya build and I've run into the same problems; games just get into this weird state were it's a back and forth thragtusk/AoS battle that never ends.
3 Cavern of Souls
7 Forest
2 Gavony Township
3 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
Creatures
4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Restoration Angel
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Thragtusk
4 Rancor
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Centaur Healer
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Odric, Master Tacitian
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Triumph of Ferocity
2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Only change I'm going to make is to drop the Intrepid Hero for a second Odric. They're there for the mirror match, and I think Odric is going to perform better in more situations.
Round 1 vs. RDW/lower curve. He drops some 2/xs, but doesn't push enough damage. Also he can't get rid of my Loxodon Smiter and Sublime Archangel joins in. Game 2 is similar except I make a mistake, getting greedy tapping Gavony Township for 2 extra damage and to pump 2 mana dorks. He does Electrickery overload in response, killing my 2 mana dorks. I still get there by taking a chance that he will not draw a 2 damage spell. He draws a land and I win. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. UWR Midrange. I just draw too many good early cards and win. Game 1, Champ, Pilgrims for days and Gavony Township are too much. By the time he gets Geist of Saint Traft, I have nearly lethal on board. Game 2 involves Champ, Thalia and 2 Silverblade Paladin. That's pretty rough to deal with. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. 4 Color Jund Midrange. Game 1, I get a good draw. After a bit of removal, I smash for lethal before he can stabilize with infinity Thragtusk. Game 2, I keep 1 Plains, 1 Champ, 2 Arbor Elf, 1 Mayor of Avabruck, 1 Thalia, and 1 Sublime Archangel. I fail to draw a land in 8 turns and lose. Game 3 is close, but I make a mistake of playing a Sublime Archangel when I had Smiter bonded with Paladin. He top decks Mizzium Mortars and has exactly the right mana to play it for Overload. I draw 4 Plains, 2 Arbor Elf, and 1 Champ after this and lose to removal and something. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Hoof there it is. I get out turn 2 and 3 Loxodon Smiter and soon thereafter, I am swinging away with Gavony Township backup. He has to keep chumping with Lingering Souls, keeping me from losing to a Craterhoof Behemoth, which I just KNEW he had. Game 2 is pretty easy. A god draw of turn 2 Loxodon Smiter, then Paladin + Rancor, then Sublime Archangel is enough to kill any opponent. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. GW Aggro/Ethereal Armor. This was a pretty cool guy. I get a pretty good hand with Loxodon Smiter. He gets a 4th turn Paladin with 2 Ethereal Armor and Rancor on it. This scares me as I think he will cast a creature to soulbond and attack for lethal (if I don't block with a 1/1 or Sublime Archangel). Game 2 is me putting the pressure, then him blocking a 4/4 Smiter with Fencing Ace, Avacyn's Pilgrim soulbonded to Silverblade Paladin. I cast Selesnya Charm, which seems like a misplay on his part, but he was extremely low on life. 2-0.
Round 6 vs. 4 Color Reanimator. Game 1, I get through past a Thragtusk with another amazing hand. Smiter + Sublime Archangels win this game. I end up having 3 Archangel this game. Game 2, I keep Forest, Gavony Township, and 5 White cards. It takes a while to draw a land, but fortunately he doesn't get much from his GY. Eventually I land Smiter off Temple Garden. Then I do RIP next turn, but I lose to Olivia letting a bunch of damage through. I had to Rancor, then Selesnya Charm her, but Craterhoof Behemoth hardcasted with me at 4 life and Thrag in play won it. Game 3, I get another quick draw. I play Champ, then Avacyn's Pilgrim, then Thalia + Avacyn's Pilgrim X 2. He does Golgari Charm to kill a bunch, but on turn 4 I top deck a land and play the last card from my hand, Sublime Archangel to leave lethal on board next turn with him at 4 land in play. 2-1.
I finish 5-1, 3rd place.
Here is my decklist. The SB is probably pretty bad. (EDIT: It is bad.)
2 Gavony Township
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
7 Plains
6 Forest
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Arbor Elf
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Sublime Archangel
4 Rancor
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 Rest in Peace
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Nevermore
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Match 1 - G/B Zombies - 1-2
Match 2 - Jund Midrange 1-2
Match 3 - G/W Tokens - 2-0
Match 4 - Izzet Control/Dragon Tribal - 2-0
Here is my decklist I am still trying to figure out the sideboard.
3x Arbor Elf
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Centaur Healer
4x Loxodon Smiter
2x Restoration Angel
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
3x Silverblade Paladin
1x Sublime Archangel
3x Thragtusk
3x Call of the Conclave
2x Entreat the Angels
4x Rancor
3x Selesnya Charm
Planeswalkers (2)
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
Lands (22)
8x Forest
2x Gavony Township
8x Plains
4x Sunpetal Grove
3x Dryad Militant
4x Oblivion Ring
2x Rest in Peace
3x Rootborn Defenses
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Minion #138
"We are 138!!"
Trade Thread
Promo Count - Lost Count
Used the Naya midrange deck which I posted in the deck garage for feedback.
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Rootbound Crag
1 Slayers' Stronghold
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Borderland Ranger
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusk
3 Angel of Serenity
Spells (12):
3 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Farseek
3 Searing Spear
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Rest in Peace
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Intrepid Hero
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
3 Zealous Conscripts
Game 1: 0-2 vs. 5-color control
Well this caught me by surprise. Got owned by Gisela, Blade of Goldnight both games. Never saw a third land or a green source to cast farseek/pilgrim on the second game. Not a good start to the day!
Game 2: 2-1 vs. UWR tempo
Huntmaster is really good in this matchup, as is the rest of the deck.
Game 3: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
It's a good thing I have those pillars in the sideboard. If they godhand we lose. If they don't we usually win.
Game 4: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
This is a really popular deck.
Game 5: 2-0 vs. 4-color Staticaster
This is the deck that did well in GP Auckland and posting good results on MODO. My poor opponent got stuck on one land in game one, while I grinded out game 2 on the back of Slayer's Stronghold and Gavony Townshio, turning my excessive mana flood into a godsend.
Game 6: Draw into top 8.
My opponent was playing a really scary 4-color control which I would have most likely gotten crushed by. Phew.
Quarterfinals: 2-1 vs. B/R Zombies
Yep. It's this deck again. Got crushed by an amazing hand game one, then proceeded to win games 2 and 3 on the backs of Thragtusk and Huntmaster of the Fells.
Semi-finals: 2-1 vs. Dos Rakis
It's interesting to see this deck in the semis. I was very afraid after studying my opponent's decklist, as his entire list seems dedicated to beating a midrange deck like mine. Won off the back of... Borderland Ranger mostly. The value and body provided by ranger is amazing. Sigarda did some serious work in game two when I powered her out on turn four.
Finals: Split.
I should have played it out as my opponent was playing U/W flash and I was very confident of beating it, but we were both pretty tired so we just split.
Thoughts on the deck
This is a really strong deck, despite all the naysayers telling us that Naya is not gonna make it due to the manabase. Borderland Ranger and Farseek are such efficient fixers. The rangers also get better with all the utility lands in our colors.
I was very comfortable running 25 lands as I won the one game where I flooded very badly as I had a high curve (Angel of Serenity) and good mana sinks (Township, Stronghold, Wolf Run). The two games where I got stuck on two lands I lost, so having more mana is generally good. Running 25 lands also allowed me to board out a Slayer's Stronghold in the B/R Zombies matchup as I cut my seven-drops in this matchup.
Searing Spear's instant speed was amazing for me all day. Even though I never really used it for reach, it was very versatile and definitely something to mainboard in game one.
I am still unsure about the deck's control matchup. I would think game one would be difficult, whilst games two and three might be easier because of the conscripts and garruks. Never really got to find out as my only post-board game against control saw me getting stuck on a clifftop retreat and a kessig wolf run all game while my opponent went lingering souls, flashback, thragtusk, gisela.
The aggro matchup is pretty good unless the opponent gets the nuts and goes first. Or you get crappy draws.
This deck has no problems winning the midrange matchup as well. Having access to three Angel of Serenity and the three utlity lands helps immensely.
Cards that I never boarded out: Avacyn's Pilgrim, Borderland Ranger, Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, and Farseek. Lands should never be boarded out except against a fast aggro deck where you cut Angel of Serenity, in which case Slayer's Stronghold can be cut.
That's all I have to say. It's late and I gotta go sleep. Hope this report was helpful for any players looking to play Naya midrange out there.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Played this friday to a 5-0 finish. Was going to bring sledghammer red, but a friend of mine wanted me to try this for him. it was my decision to include 4x pillar main.
:symg::symw::symr::symb: midrange
3 blood crypt
3 overgrown tomb
2 sunpetal grove
2 rootbound crag
2 woodland cemetary
1 isolated chapel
3 clifftop retreat
2 cavern of souls
1 vault of the archangel
1 kessig wolf run
4 restoration angel
4 huntmaster of the fells
4 loxodon smiter
4 avacyn's pilgrim
4 farseek
3 lingering souls
4 pillar of flame
3 unburial rites
4 centaur healer
1 ray of revelation
2 slaughter games
1 tormod's crypt
4 silverblade paladin
3 bonfire of the damned
G1 was pretty uneventful and long. I knew he was playing mainly syncopates and I never saw a cavern. He spent turns 3-5 countering my stuff. I stuck an angel at the end of his turn at some point and got a tusk down and hit him to like 10 life and then he started sphinx revelations on me and I eventually decked.
G2 was much better. I sided in 4x silverblade for a faster clock. I got smiter down t2 then silverblade t3 and he ended up verdicting on t4, then I slaughter gamed him for his revelations and he was down and out from there.
G3 was a slower version of G2. I eventually chipped an opening to slaughter games his revelations and he dies. We ended the match with 5 seconds to spare.
Match 2 vs Dirty cheap red- probably my best matchup. 2-0
G1 I got a turn 2 lingering souls which slowed him down long enough for me to play thragtusk. Once the tusk came down it was over and my creatures just muscled his smaller creatures out. Didn't see hellkite at all.
G2 was slower for me. I stabilized at 10 life on t4 with a huntmaster into thragtusk, blocked with thragtusk and rited him then angeled him. I overwhelmed his little guys from there.
Match 3 vs BR zombies 2-0
Before I start let me just say that I've done a lot of testing with BR zombies after it started winning and placing in major tournaments. Their main source of value is from saccing gravecrawler and messenger to aristocrat. That's mainly why I MBed pillars, because this was the only matchup that I was worried about.
G1 I was on the play and got an opener with pillar, farseek, and souls. He opened with t1 gravecrawler, t2 knight, t3 messenger, t4 hellrider. I farseeked t2 for a red source, souls on t3 and held off the knight/crawler. he played messenger into a pillar from me and a flashback of souls. Turn 4 he played hellrider and attacked with all. souls tokens took out knight and crawler and chumped hellrider. From there I just started playing thragtusk, angel and rites to pump my life way up and ended the game with a few tokens swinging huge pumps from wolf run.
G2 i brought in bonfire of the damned for avacyn's pylgrim (he just get's burned out anyway). I went farseek into huntmaster into angel/rites. He played 3 hellkites in a row and had me looking pretty bad, but I topdecked a bonfire like a champ and cleared his board. From there he tried to re-gas with weenies while I gained life with a thragtusk and flipped wolf on his land-only drops to kill his weenies, then souls/farseek on my turn to change him back.
I deffinitely would have lost at least one game here if it weren't for pillar.
Match 4 GW midrange 2-0
G1 The main thing I have in my notes here is that I out thragtusked him and that I luck-drew a land I needed. He attacked with his and I attacked with mine and the main reason I won this game was because I got to re-use my thragtusks more often than his. he got an angel of serenity out, but I ended up killing it with a huntmaster/vault when he didn't have anything to play and finished him off.
G2 I brought in bonfire and started with one in my opening hand. He started with turn 3 loxodon smiter into t3 silverblade into archangel. I got t1 pilgrim into t2 farseek, t3 thragtusk and t5 bonfire for 4 wiping his board. From there I laid a huntmaster and got vault of the archangel online. Wasn't much he could do after that (vault of the archangel rules with huntmaster by the way).
Match 5 UW flash, the guy who wanted me to test this 2-1
He didn't know I brought in the pillars. They were 2 o-ring and 2 selesnya charm.
G1 I was on the draw. He came out with geist, countered my stuff and beat my face in.
G2 I Sb: -3 lingering souls, -4 pillar, + 4 silverblade paladin, +2 slaughtergames, +1 tormod.
I play t4 huntmaster and he allows and sweeps. I slaughter games him for revelations. From there I just out CA him. He was holding a counter and if he would have used it I would have been in a much worse spot.
G3 I mull to 5 but end up with cavern, silverblade, huntmaster, another land, and I think a rites. cavern set to human and get a silverblade/huntmaster out to meet his geist. He digs for a sweeper and I manage to get his life down to 11. He sweeps with 3 mana left up. I know he only plays 1 dissipate and hope for the best and play a thragtusk. It resolves. We go round and round with him controlling the board and drawing cards off revelation I guess hoping to go to time and draw. I slaughter games his revelation with a minute to go and end up winning off a tusk + paladin + wolf run 2 turns after time.
Summary:
I loved the deck and all the interactions it provides. The mana base is surprisingly stable, although the 4 color can make you mull more than you'd like (In my notes I have that I had to mull 3 times due to off-colors in my opening hand). As long as you can get around that and mulligan properly then you're pretty well set. The deck top-decks amazingly and you're never out of gas, although it seems like the value creatures have a hard time putting pressure on control players. Silverblade and wolf run was an amazing combination vs control, allowing me to just come out of nowhere and swing for 20 pts of damage.
Pillar and lingering souls are my mvp vs fast red and zombies. Vs aggro you're just looking to survive till t4-5, and these 2 let you do that consistently, every single game.
Pretty much every single control list relies on sphinx's revelations. I may put slaughter games up to 3 in the SB to make sure I can grab this card a little more consistently. Once you games their revelation they're hosed.
I'd really like to test this deck in a bigger tournament against x-factor decks, but as of right now, I look at it as having at least 50/50 vs control and probably something like an 80% win vs aggro.
Modern:
Twinning End
Commander:
Mayael the Anema
Here's what I ended up playing:
5 Plains
8 Forest
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Gavony Township
Creatures (27)
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Arbor Elf
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Silverblade Paladin
3 Restoration Angel
3 Thragtusk
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Armada Wurm
4 Rancor
4 Selesnya Charm
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Centaur Healer
3 Faith's Shield
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
2 Yeva, Nature's Herald
2 Trostani, Selesnya' Voice
RUW was THE deck in the room - I'm willing to bet it comprised at least 40% of the field. The night before we tested against Frites, Jund, Bant, Rakdos Sligh...but not American Control.
Round 1 I lost to Sphinx's revelation for 8 in response to what should have been lethal damage, and getting stuck on 2 mana after a mull to 6 in the second game.
Round 2 I tore through the guy and killed him with smiters and paladins. Game two turn 3 thragtusk got there.
Round 3 my turn 2 smiter gets locked up by azorius arrester, then lyev skyknight, then resto flickering arrester. I get garruk online and get enough for the kill while sitting on 4 life, but his thalia kills a beast and a morbid brimstone volley before lethal damage ends it. Game 2 I run him over with paladin paired with resto and sigarda. Game 3 I keep a hand of forest, sunpetal grove, pilgrim, arbor elf, smiter, smiter, paladin. He pillars both my mana dorks and I never see the 3rd land.
Round 4 was Frites and I outraced him both games. Didn't even need RiP.
Round 5 my opponent mulls to 5 on the play game 1, then 6 on the play game 2, gets mana screwed both times and I curve out.
Round 6 I still don't know what it was. Between Sphinx's Revelation, Huntmaster of the Fells, Maindeck Izzet Staticasters and Armada Wurm, all I know is that I couldn't stop four different deck's wincons at the same time.
Round 7 I faced Angel of Glory's Rise Rites. Game 1 he combos off on 8 life. Game 2 I Rest in Peace him the turn before he can go off, game 3 I get stuck on 3 lands with a hand full of 4 and 5-drops after my mana bugs get burnt off.
Here's what I learned:
-Thalia is like the leylines: great in your opening hand, dead if drawn later. I saw her so rarely, but with three in the deck I should expect to see one in my opening hand at least once. When I did cast her, she just ate a pillar and they moved on like it was nothing. Also, she's really bad against decks with Izzet Staticaster.
-Artifact Removal is more important now than ever. Runechanter's Pike is a card that's seeing tons of play, and if you don't have a way to remove it, then you may as well scoop up your cards and walk away. It's that good. Sundering growth is likely the card to run in the board for it.
-Don't go overboard with boarding. This is something I was taught the night before, but it still applies. The best way to win matches against decks that give you issues is to have a specific SB plan for the decks you plan to see, and stick to that plan. Write them down if you have to - you're allowed to review them between games. If something completely out of right field comes at you (5 color midrange in my case) then you have to improvise, but knowing what you cut and what you add before you start the match goes a long way in helping your deck and your play.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Triumph of Ferocity.
Looks solid, although a bit stacked with 5-6 drops. I think you run the risk of losing a game or two when they kill your mana bugs and you lose with 5-drops stranded in your hand.
I'd say 'like that', but with 3 three mana dudes I'd feel a little hard done by.
Nice. Did you draw well, or do you feel favoured in the matchup generally?
Shouldn't you be able to plow over 4 colour monstrosities?
Ahem.
Just like a mana bug?
I look at Thalia and mana bugs as being the same sort of card. Specifically, a Time Walk. Each one puts us a turn ahead of the opponent. And when we have 10-11 time walks, they can only have 4 Pillar of Flame.... I like those odds.
Or Oblivion Ring? Since sometimes you really want to kill a planeswalker or Olivia.
Yeah, I totally agree with this. It's something I am guilty of too.
I've considered it - ran it as a two-of at states. It's got merit against URW but I'll need to test it.
Duly noted. The armada wurms are likely on their way out - I think I only cast one the entire day.
Agreed. If he doesn't have the double pillar he's untapping turn 4 on 8 life.
I got fast hands. RIP helps if you can't hit them really quickly, but with a hot enough start you can steal game 1.
In theory, yeah. But turn 3 huntmaster into turn 4 resto, then revelation for 4 next turn? It's three different attack patterns coming at you, and if you stop any one, he goes to the others.
I know, I know. But I didn't feel like I could go to 5 against his seven. I was wrong.
On Thalia, mainboarding her was a mistake. Without a way to pump her toughness, staticaster just nukes her without a fight. She's still good, but the board is where you need to keep her.
Oblivion ring can deal with pike, but summering growth does so permanently, and at instant speed. Once it's equipped, it's usually too late to turn the game around. I now pack two of each in the board.
With Thalia moving to the board, strangleroot Geist fills her place as a wrath-resistant beater. Armada Wurm also leaves in favor of wolfir avenger, whose 3 toughness and flash allows for more utility against control builds in general, while lowering the curve as well. Wolfir silverheart, while amazingly powerful, is a bit too expensive for the already-clogged 5-drop slot. I may test a bit with ulvenwald tracker, though - it allows me to be rid of things outside combat, including pike'd things, without worrying about first strike.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
I don't think that the decision to MD or SB Thalia should be based on Izzet Staticaster. I think that's definitely a rogue deck and not worth tinkering our deck around because of it.
I have been running both Thalia and Geist for a while now (like you, I was finding that my opponents would *always* pillar my T1 dork, so having actual two drops lets me continue to curve out against them).
I really like Wolfir Avenger in theory, but vs UW at least he's just worse than Strangleroot Geist to me, since he doesn't hit as hard before being captured by Detention Sphere, and it's surprisingly hard to keep 1G open and pressure them.
I do love having more things to do at instant speed though, and producing a 5/3 regenerating trampler out of thin air is always fun.
Yeah, there are a whole bunch of cards, like SRG, both Wolfirs, Tracker, Faiths Shield, Sublime Archangel, Thragtusk, that on the surface of things LOOK like they are worth a slot, and definitely have their champions. Ass opposed to the core of Pilgrim/Elf/Thalia/Smiter/Paladin/Resto/Rancor/Charm that is basically set in stone, at least for me.