I know this is a block constructed deck but it still made me think a bit about new cards and was an interesting test.
Soooo...
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
Game 1 vs Gruul Aggro (2-0)
It was nothing special here for the most part, he couldn't get any creature to stick and eventually my Reckoners and Ash Zealots took him down without the help of Aristocrats or Hellrider.
G2 I side-boarded into a more control role and it worked out. With more removal and eventually Hound I was able to stop all his threats even with bloodrush with a Spear or Price in response. Hound and Zealots defended the ground while Aristocrat and eventually the one Thundermaw came to seal the deal.
-4 Cackler, -2 Noble, +2 Hounds, +2 Tribute, +2 Ultimate Price
Game 2 vs Naya Midrangish (2-0)
This deck was pretty top heavy. He had Smiters, Thundermaws, Reckoners and no Thragtusk's that I saw.
Basically both games he couldn't get any draws, few creatures the first game and was stuck on two lands the second game. Brought him very low with an unleash cackler both games, then curved out Reckoners/Hellrider/Aristocrat/Thundermaw to finish.
No sideboard
Game 3 vs Mono-black Control (2-0)
Pretty homebrewish deck and just couldn't keep up. He had mutilate but never drew and just killed his creatures while rushing him down both times.
No sideboard
G1: I had a great draw, Stromkirk into Knights of Infamy into Reckoner into Aristocrat for over the top damage. He had a guildmage and strangleroot, but was easily ran over.
G2: Right when I saw the strangleroots, I wished I had 4 pillars for exile but didn't so I had to make due with what I had. Kept a decent hand but his was outstanding. He has 3 Geist and a Guildmage out eventually and I had no answers and drew no removal. He did a neat little trick with blocking/attacking with Geist then undying and removing the counter with the guildmage's first ability. Every time I would block he would simic charm for +3/+3 and I had no defenders after that.
-3 Knights, -1 Stromkirk, +2 Tribute, +1 Server, +1 Ultimate Price
G3: Ran about the same, couldn't get any cards and Predator Ooze came out and I had no answers to the onslaught of strangleroots, Garruk, and guildmage doing his thing.
Top 8 Quarterfinal vs B/R Aggro with Zombies (2-0)
Basically the same deck as Dos Raki but with Zombies. Drew well and had Pillar for his Messenger, and basically had Zealot on the defense while Hellrider and Aristocrat came out to do damage over the top. At one point he had a Knight and Aristocrat on the field. Dreadbored the Knight, passed turned then Speared his Aristocrat with no sac outlet on his draw phase and he scoooped shortly after.
G2: Sideboarded more removal to take out all his aggro and it was a close game, don't remember the details but I was at 2 life and he was 3 and eventually stalled out into a Spear for the win.
-2 Cacklers, -2 Knights, +2 Ultimate Price, +2 Tribute
Semifinal vs RDW with Vexing Devil (2-0)
Was pretty scared against this deck it was fast, weird option with Vexing though. He started with a Devil and I took 4. When you say mirror it was uncannily a 'mirror' match. Both of us had Nobles and those eventually got pillared. Then Ash Zealots that got Spear/Dreadbored. and Reckoners that were Speared also. Eventually he didn't have an answer for my Aristocrat and was able to swing twice until it got pillared, then he couldn't draw the 4th land and I played Hellrider shortly after and swung for the win.
G2: Sideboarded for control again
He was stuck on two land and I removed his small creatures. Hound came out and he couldn't really attack anymore and Aristocrat and Thundermaw came out ending the game quickly.
-4 Cackler, -2 Knight, +2 Hounds, +2 Tribute, +2 Ultimate Price
Finals vs Naya Midrange (2-0)
Same Naya Midrange as last time. He started the day pretty bad in Swiss but sneaked as 8th and made it to the finals. Did a blessing to me as he took out the G/U deck that I had a problem with.
Game was not that exciting he basically got screwed again on mana/creatures. We both mulled to 5 and I had good enough cards to take him down with a Zealot and Knight.
Game notes and Observations
Was the second time I played Dos Raki and had a great time and success. I started with RDW but got smashed by big creatures because I was not able to deal enough by T4/5. Merged with black and its great now, the removal package is amazing, being able to take care of reckoners without killing my guys or hurting me with dreadbore is great. The mid to end game of the deck is also very strong with Aristocrats and Hellkites. At one point Aristocrat was doing 6 damage per turn with exalted and hellrider out. I had stonewright on FNM and took him out for 2 more dreabores and didn't really notice the difference. Overall I really enjoy playing R/B and hope to church out more packs at FNM!
Legion Loyalist - I sided him out in every game. Seems really weak. Even in the "god mode" situation where I flooded the board with Noble, Zealot, Reckoner, and then dropped a Loyalist and swung for the "alpha strike", they just blocked the Loyalist and he died immediately. I got some extra damage through but I think I'd rather play... well... anything. I'll play it again, give it one more chance to redeem itself... but... meh.
OK OK on the plus side when they drop Huntmaster of the Fells, instead of trading with a wolf and a Huntmaster you bypass the wolf token, and you can get around a Lingering Souls blocking strategy. I've noticed (at my LGS) that a lot of decks rely on Farseek into Huntmaster/Thrag to live, and honestly once they hit Huntmaster it can become a tough uphill fight.
No Hellion Crucible or Rogue's Passage or Cavern of Souls - Yeah... I want consistency. I want everything to be a R mana to me. Taking a hand with two Mountains and a Boros Reckoner and drawing a Hellion Crucible might end the game not in your favour. I want to be able to Ash Zealot and Pillar of Flame at the same time! So, no spell lands. In regards to the "it allows you to sink mana into something later" argument, I'm not sold on it because I fully intend to end the game before that. If the game gets away from you, Hellion Crucible isn't bringing you back, lets be honest.
Gore-House Chainwalker - I needed a 3 power 2-drop. Lots of things with 3 toughness (boar, reckoner, thrag, etc).
Traitorous Blood - Reasonably impressed. Considering going to 4 of in the MD. You can negate a Thragtusks 5 life and the fact that he's a blocker with Traitorous. Most common targets are Thragtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite and Boros Reckoner. TB works in two ways: removes a blocker (which is extremely relevant vs Thragtusk / Boros Reckoner), and damage boost. I chained two Traitorous Blood's on the enemies Thundermaw Hellkite for a cool 10.
Archwing Dragon - it's a bit touch and go. A bit of a troll card. It works against some people. I'll probably cut it though.
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The games, lightning style!
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Round 1: 2-0 vs R/G
Game 1: Curved out and took the win.
Game 2: Brought in Volcanic Strength. Game two I aggressively mulliganed to a hand with Volcanic Strength in it. Played Noble, equipped Volcanic Strength (making him a 4/4 after attacks), and was unkillable with Searing Spear and the game was mine.
Round 2: 2-0 vs U/G
Game 1: Curve out... sort of. Take the win on turn 5 or 6.
Game 2: Didn't see his deck at all so I brought in Reckless Waif thinking he was control. I play Waif and he plays a bunch of 1 and 2 drops. Doh! I put him to 3 life, and he attempts to Flashback Increased Savagery on a very beefy Cloudfin Raptor, but is unable to do so because of Ash Zealot. I then swing for a large amount.
Round 3: 2-1 vs Naya
Game 1: Stalls me with Reckoner, Thragtusks and Huntmasters. Things go poorly.
Game 2: Bring in Volcanic Strength and Skullcrack. Mulligan to a hand with Volcanic Strength. Play Noble, cast Volcanic Strength (before he untaps to get Searing Spear) and then plow him for the win.
Game 3: Exactly the same as game 2.
Round 4: 2-1 vs Naya
Game 1: I curve and get him.
Game 2: Bring in Volcanic Strength and Skullcrack. Mulligan aggressively for a hand with Volcanic Strength, find a hand with a Noble and Volcanic Strength but only 1 Mountain, on the play. I keep it, draw and miss a land, play Noble, pass. Draw, miss land... swing with Noble... I missed my 2nd land until about turn 5 at which point he double Thragtusked and I was done. Funny thing was I still nearly had him on 1 land!
Game 3: Same as last game but I have two land in hand (and stall on two land!) but plow him with Noble and Volcanic Strength. I Spear his Arbor Elf and Skullcrack when his Tusk shows up. Game is mine.
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OBSERVATIONS
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1. Need more Skullcrack.
2. Possibly go to 4 Volcanic Strength.
3. Possibly go to 4 Traitorous Blood.
4. Might ditch Pillar of Flame entirely. Not necessarily synonymous with my point 5, below.
5. Being able to operate on 2 mana seems important for people wanting to run 22 lands or less.
6. Legion Loyalist is sub-par. Outclassed immediately.
7. Naya does actually give me a beatdown. I rely very heavily on getting a Volcanic Strength out early. I need more tech for this matchup. I now see why some people main Volcanic Strength (because you gotta win every Naya MU you can!). Your MU is a lot better if you can put Volcanic Strength on a toughness 2 creature (so Searing Spear doesn't hit it).
FNM 2-22, 23 players, 5 rounds.
I got there late but they added me anyways and gave me the round 1 bye.
Round 2 vs. Esper Control
Game 1 we go back and forth, I lose two Ash Zealots to a Detention Sphere, and a Reckoner to another Sphere, but I had all 4 Zealots in hand by turn 2. Still, he should have won this game but for some reason forgot Zealot's passive ability and flashbacked a Think Twice with two Zealots on the field.
Game 2 I side in Angels, Hellkite, Skullcrack, and Thalia. I get him to 1, then I have lethal but he Sphinx's Revelationed for 2 (after I stole a white source to activate my slayer's stronghold with Conscripts, Tamiyo was keeping my only white source tapped down) and wiped my board. He eventually took it with a suited up 11/1 Lingering Souls token while I never drew a Boros Charm, or Skullcrack, or Searing Spear. (Pillars were boarded out). Dimir Charm sealed my fate literally, binning my other Conscripts and a Hellrider and leaving me with a land (white source, ironically.)
Game 3 never really got started as game 2 took so long. Still, I felt fortunate to walk away from an Esper game with a draw.
Round 2 vs. Bant-Run control
Game 1 I was on the play, and he couldn't find a second white source for Supreme Verdict. The turn he did I was holding Boros Charm backup anyways.
Game 2, same story. He got flooded out on colorless lands while I curved out perfectly.
Round 3 vs. Boros aggro
Game 1 I win the die roll and lose anyways to inferior draws.
Game 2 I just flood out and get steamrolled.
Round 4 vs. Naya mostly humans aggro
Game 1 was back and forth, but Huntmaster just gave too much value, and Loxodon Smiter is just too big without Mortars.
Game 2 I am on the play and Have 3 Stromkirk Nobles in play by turn 2. It was over really quickly.
Game 3 I get stuck on a pair of Sacred Foundries for land. I am forced to play defense with Ash Zealots, a pair of them hold off Smiter for a turn but he flips over a Searing Spear and just wrecks me with the Rancor'ed up Smiter, 2x Ash Zealot, and a flipped Huntmaster. Winner made top 8, which consisted of three aggro decks (Naya humans, Naya Zoo, and mono red), an Orzhov tokens deck, and 4 midrange decks (Jund,Jund, Dega, Raka) . So, in the two weeks I've been running Boros, I like it, but it definitely has issues with decks that can go bigger, faster, with Smiters. Is Mizzium Mortars the only out for that guy in Boros?
Is Mizzium Mortars the only out for that guy in Boros?
To remove it with Red, probably, yes. White you have access to exile effects like Oblivion Ring.
He is a frustration, but he can also be played around without removing him. If they are Naya, usually I board in 4 Volcanic Strengths and mulligan until I see one in my hand. You can just run around him.
Another thing to try would be Traitorous Blood (I run 4 in my 75). You remove him as a blocker and sneak a cool 4 damage. I run 4 of them because I want to flood with them in hand so I can chain-cast it turn after turn!
Stonewright into Ash Zealot is an OK move - pumping first strike...
I run 4 Mizzium Mortas, 4 Traitorous Blood and 4 Volcanic Strength, and between them I find that I can play around Loxodon Smiter. It's still not the cleanest answer, but it works well enough. Sometimes some cards just ruin your day.
Notable results:
Against Naya Blitz, Electrickery is excellent, especially with the number of first strikers in the deck. I probably shouldn't have won that match, but I was able to hit critical creatures with removal at the right time.
Zealous Conscripts is about the only way that this deck can deal with an opposing Boros Reckoner. I feel like my opponents misplayed theirs and were attacking too much with them, allowing me to turn them around into them. I would frequently burn out opposing Reckoners to reduce board damage.
Nothing beats being lucky. Thanks to this forum, I was able to put together a pretty good deck and know how to play it. That said, it helps when you draw on the curve and don't get mana screwed. I don't think this is a T1 deck, but it's fun and quick to play and can hose control pretty well.
Stuff I'd change: Brimstone Volley - May not be the best fit for the sb. Not sure when to bring it in. After getting crushed in a previous tournament to the Aristocrats, I thought it'd give me some reach with their constant sacking. I haven't seen Aristocrats in my meta, and so I haven't played the card. Also, the casting cost gets into obscene areas with Thalia.
Rest in Peace - I've never really had to use it because I can typically outrun reanimator.
Reckless Waif - I may change in the future, but I didn't play against any control last night and this is mainly a on-the-play creature against an opponent who is going to drop a shockland on turn 1.
Apparently, since the last time I went to FNM, the meta changed from hyper-aggressive Naya and Jund aggro into Bant control, so most of my sideboard was pretty useless. So in an attempt to be sly and slip an aggressive R/B deck into the scene I got taken by surprise instead.
Round One / 2-1
VS. Bant Control Game 1: I thought I was in trouble when the guy sat down and he whipped out the GTC Game Day Champion playmat. He dropped BlOb and I hate this card now. But I aggroed him to death by curving perfectly from Stromkirk Noble, into Ash Zealot, into Reckoner, into Aristocrat, into Hellkite.
Game 2: I boarded in Slaughter Games to deal with Detention Sphere and BlOb, but never drew one. Also Rakdos's Return to try and kill his card advantage. He found a groove with one Angel of Serenity in his hand and a second in his graveyard and managed to just cycle through the two of them, clearing my board and exiling the Angel in his yard until I removed his Angel, which brought the second Angel back to his hand and sent the first one to his yard... I did the best I could, but ran out of removal and BlOb kept me from playing aggressive.
Game 3: Boarded in Rakdos Charm to put a stop to that Angel of Serenity crap. I aggroed him down to 2, then he played a Reckoner to match my own and passed with enough untapped mana to drop a Verdict. I could probably have dropped the Aristocrat and tried to swing for a win, but the untapped mana made me nervous. Rakdos's Return for game.
Round Two / 0-2
VS. Bant/Door to Nothingness Game 1 & Game 2: This guy has been playing Magic since the LGS was brand new and I was in middle school, so I don't feel too awfully terrible about this loss. His deck was stupid. Both of these matches went down pretty much the same. I got him down to 2 Life in game one, and he was sweating it, but he cast Unexpected Results into Omniscience, then puked his deck onto the board until he could activate Door to Nothingness. Couldn't get a Rakdos Charm out fast enough. So yeah... there's that.
Round Three / 2-1
VS. BUG Humanimator Game 1: Turn 1 I cast Stromkirk Noble. He plays Steam Vents and passes. Turn 2 I play Ash Zealot and swing for 3. He draws and passes. Turn 3 I play Reckoner. He scoops. Fastest win ever.
Game 2: Having not seen his deck at all, I opt not to sideboard. I almost had him this game, but he got an infinite combo off. Reanimate Angel of Glory’s Rise, returning Burning-Tree Emissary, Undercity Informer and Fiend Hunter, with Fiend Hunter eating the Angel. Use one Emissary mana to sacrifice itself to mill the opponent with Undercity Informer. Then, use the second Emissary mana to sacrifice Fiend Hunter to Undercity Informer. Angel returns, bringing with it Fiend Hunter and BTE. Lather, rinse, repeat until I'm decked out.
Game 3: Board in Slaughter Games and Rakdos Charm. Cast Slaughter Games for Angel of Glory's Rise, then a second Slaughter Games for Fiend Hunter. Then smash.
Round Three / 1-2
VS. Bant Wolf Run Game 1: I dropped him to 2, he stabilized with Thragtusk, D-Sphered my Aristocrat, cleared my board with Verdict and swung with Mini 'Tusk inflated by Kessig Wolf Run. It was brutal.
Game 2: Volcanic Strength won me this match. He D-Sphered two Aristocrats, but I drew a third. He misplayed by attacking with Reckoner, which I blocked with KoI. Next turn I swung in, essentially unblocked.
Game 3: This one went on forever. Witchbane Orb really pumped my brakes, and I didn't have a Rakdos Charm boarded in because I didn't see it in game 1 or 2. Rhox Faithmender and Loxodon on his board, Reckoner, Ash Zealot and two Nobles on mine. My fliers versus his removal suite is what it came down to. He stabilized from 3 or 4 back up to 17 or 18 with Sphinx's Revelation twice. He played Wolf Run, dropped Verdict, cast a Reckoner and passed. My top deck was a Mountain.
And that's how it went down! I had fun, and I think once I get more familiar with my meta I can definitely increase my wins.
Went 3-1 with this list. Can't really get into detail with the matchups so summaries:
Match 1 - UG Delver 2-1 (P-D-P)
Game 1 was a beating from me because he seemed to have kept a mediocre hand. Unfortunately I didn't get much info from him thinking it was a control deck, so I didn't board in my removals. Next game, he had a turn 2 flipped Delver with a ciphered Hands of Binding, effectively tapping my Arbor Elf. Lost the game with just damage from the Delver. Next game was a bit close when he got a big Quirion Dryad with another Cipher. I had Skarrg Guildmage down though and making my land a 4/4 every turn.
Match 2 - Jund Aggro 2-1 (P-D-P)
Game 1, he didn't get any red source until late into the game and it was too late. Game 2 was a lot better for him when he had good removal in his hand that dealt with my creatures. Game 3 was a little bit similar to game 1, but I kept dropping creatures every turn.
Match 3 - Aristocrats 2-0 (P-D)
Curving both games and exhausting his removal suite were the key factors on how I won. He didn't also get a much needed red source to cast Falkenrath Aristocrat in time.
Match 4 - Aristocrats 1-2 (P-D-P)
Game 1 was a brutal beating from me. Game 2 was where I made the mistake that led me to a downward spiral. When given the option to kill a 2/2 Champion of the Parish and a Skirsdarg High Priest, I chose the Champion thinking I can deal with the priest later. That was a bad choice because he was able to drop 2 more creatures, Tragic Slip an Arbor Elf of mine and drop a 5/5. Needless to say, a lost match. Game 3 was just a bad draw for me. Mulliganed a Strangleroot, 6-land hand to a 2-Strangleroot, 4 land hand. Two threats at least, so I kept. After an early Mizzium Mortars on a Cartel Aristocrat and trades with Doomed Travelers (which was bad play on my part), I drew land for 5 straight turns while he was amassing Human tokens with 3 consecutive Gather the Townsfolk and a Vampire Nighthawk. My life trickled away and when I dropped a Ghor-Clan Rampager and get to attack next turn, I said screw it and play to my outs. I had ten land with a Kessig Wolf Run (total of 11 damage - 4 toughness from his creatures). I figured if I topdeck a Thundermaw, I would win the game next two turns. Attacked, he sacced, and he slipped my Ghor-Clan. He attacks next turn and left me at 2 life while he sat at 21. Next turn I topdecked a Thundermaw.
I still ended up 2nd place with him at 1st place so not bad.
Card Performance Clan Defiance didn't see play, and I think I'll cut it because it's just slow even in a potential deck that can use it (I can generate lots of mana with Gyre Sage).
Increasing Savagery is a threat, specially when you can drop it on a Gyre Sage, cast a big creature like Silverheart, and add 10 counters next turn. Might bring it back to 4 since I cut one for Clan Defiance
Skarrg Guildmage is still a card. I'm surprised few people use him. He attracts removal because they will see him as a real threat.
Also, I lack one Thundermaw Hellkite. It should be a three of, and removal is a 4-of.
Private Mod Note
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I am passionate, yet I am logical. The fire within me burns, but I am also patient to a point. I am with the Fires of Salvation
@christen: Thanks for the report! I played this deck myself last friday.
The MU vs control was surprisingly good post-board. My losses were both to hyper fast aggro, they demolished me before I could establish a real board presence.
I only had 1 real fast aggro matchup last night which was Jund aggro, and it is noticeably slower than it's dedicated Gruul, Boros or mono-color counterparts.
Since this deck lacks spot removal game 1, you should just do your best bringing in fatties like Flinthoof Boar and Ghor-Clan Rampager into the board. Having your one drops are also important. Strangleroot Geist is actually a very good defensive card specially with most people not having the full 4 Pillars these days.
Post board it gets easier. Board out Domri Rade for actual spot removal. If on the play, you don't need to board too much. Increasing Savagery is much more riskier to use if they might be holding instant speed removal in their hand, so that might need to come out as well.
On the draw, Experiment One comes out as well since he takes time before he actually grows big. I also board in Garruk for those matchups. Volcanic Strength can do a lot of work, and is one of the main reasons I won my Jund Aggro matchup last night (VS on a bonded Silverheart).
Sadly, you can't do as much as we would like to against their nutdraws (multiple BTE's, turn 4 kills, etc). Do not be afraid to trade a lot to control their board presence if needed.
But really, the more important thing is to always determine who is the aggressor in the round so you can adjust your strategy accordingly. This deck can race if needed, specially if you drop early Skarrg Guildmages and Strangleroots.
If you're playing against Boros Reckoner btw, it gets a bit harder. You'll definitely need your Savageries and a source trample for this matchup to properly get around him.
Private Mod Note
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I am passionate, yet I am logical. The fire within me burns, but I am also patient to a point. I am with the Fires of Salvation
I don't remember everything so I apologize if it's not too detailed. I'll briefly explain my matchups and how they went.
Round 1:Boros Aggro (W 2-1)
Game 1:I lost because I kept a hand I shouldn't of kept and got land screwed.
Game 2:He ended up getting land screwed and I won because of it.
Game 3:I ended up opening multiple Emissary and he scooped on turn 3.
Round 2:RDW (W 2-0)
Game 1:We raced but he ended up scooping after I got the better start.
Game 2:He got stuck on 1 land the entire game. He had 2 Cackler w/unleash and Loyalist out but that didn't help him and I ended up winning a few turns later.
Round 3:Reanimator (W 2-0)
Game 1:I went aggro against him and he couldn't combo off fast enough to win.
Game 2:He sided out the reanimator stuff for aggro which I wasn't expecting. I ended up winning after stealing his Strangleroot Geist w/Mark of Mutiny and swinging for the win.
Round 4:Mono Green Aggro (W 2-1)
Game 1:I went aggro before he could and he scooped after realizing he couldn't save himself even if he blocked.
Game 2:It was close but he ended up taking it with Vorapede/Revenge of the Hunted.
Game 3:I open with 2 Ghor-Clan Rampager. I get him down to 3 and I seal the game with a Searing Spear.
Round 5:B/W Zombies (W 2-1)
Game 1:I scooped because I again kept a hand I shouldn't of kept and he had a board of Obzedat,Geralfs Messenger,and other creatures that I couldn't keep up with.
Game 2:I won because I got off to a faster start than he did.
Game 3:I kept a hand that was questionable but it worked out. It went back and forth but I ended up winning after attacking with a unleashed Gore-House Chainwalker equiped w/2 Rancor and a Ghor-Clan Rampager.
I ended up getting 20 store credit and just used it to get 6 packs of Gatecrash. Also my buddy Quinn Kennedy (he got 1st at SCG Portland) went 4-1 and we rode in the same car. Overall it was a pretty good night
Here's my SCG DC: Standard report. I ran RDW splashing black for this event. I consider this list to be RDW, despite the splash, it really isn't similar to Dos Rakis. It runs only 8 black sources (this may have been a mistake) and is splashing for only 3 Dreadbore.
Honestly, this event was a bit of a blur and I didn't take great notes. Still, I'm going to post what I have here.
In a nutshell, my plan for this list was to play an aggressive game while having a reasonable midrange matchup, leaning on cards such as Dreadbore, Stonewright, and Appetite for Brains to give me some reach against the heavy stuff. Honestly, in playtesting the list had seemed a bit mediocre and I considered an audible into UWR, but I haven't run that in a while and would have needed more testing to get comfortable with it again.
The Matches:
Round 1 vs. RB/w Aggro
This may have actually just been Dos Rakis with Godless Shrines for Reckoner. Not entirely sure if the white did anything besides that.
Anyway, game 1, he wins the die roll and outraces me. As I recall, I sided in Weird, Wolf, Hellkite, and burn while taking out Cacklers and Chainwalkers, and chose to be on the draw in G2. He seemingly stuck with a more aggressive plan, and going bigger paid off for me. I take G2, he chooses the play for G3, same thing happens. Mono-Red Control FTW!
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs. Gruul Aggro/Midrange
This had things like Burning-Tree Emissary and Domri Rade, but also Wolfir Silverheart. Welp. This deck absolutely stomped me, 0-2. Silverheart is obviously a tough card for this deck to deal with, and not a card we expect to face in the current metagame. I think I did draw Dreadbore at some point in this match, but didn't have the black mana. That happened a few times during the day, for the record.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs. ????
I don't remember this matchup at all, honestly. And I didn't take notes on it, either. It was something on the aggressive side, and I won 2-0.
Record: 2-1
Round 4 vs. Human Reanimator
Game 1, I beat him down to 4 life, and he goes off. At one point, I missed 3 Hellrider triggers and a Noble trigger, which would have made my clock a turn faster, potentially changing the whole game. I side into 2x Appetite and the 2x GY hate.
Game 2, he sides into Thragtusks and Huntmasters to beat me. I hit him with an Appetite for Brains, he has 2 Tusk and a Huntmaster. I exile the Huntmaster, thinking it will leave him with no T4 play, and hopefully I can kill him before T6 happens, making the second Tusk irrelevant. I get him down to 4 life, then he goes up to 9, I get him down to 1, he goes up to 6, then back down to 3. And then he drops a Resto Angel on a Tusk. Welp.
Record: 2-2
Round 5 vs. Naya Humans
So, long story, but I'm late to my match and take the tardiness loss for G1. He wins the one game we play. I didn't really tilt or anything like that, though I don't recall much about this match. Pretty sure he just had a good draw and won the race. Normally, I'm not one to drop from an SCG Open at X-3. Tons of people do this and I don't understand it. Payout is to T64 and an X-3 finish is usually good for $50. However, at this point, I want to play the Legacy Challenge, as I desperately need some Legacy experience before playing my first Legacy Open on Sunday. I have a report on that stuff in the Legacy Burn thread, if you're interested.
Final Record: 2-3
I don't think I played my best or worst Magic in this event, and I don't think the deck was the best or worst choice. If I was to play Standard tomorrow, I definitely would not run this list and probably would not run straight red (or R/b) aggro. Midrange seems to be beating aggro right now, and control isn't strong enough to put much of a damper on the midrange. I think there are viable aggressive decks right now, but going heavy-aggro rather than fast-aggro seems necessary for the current metagame.
Good report. I think this reflects that we have to be faster in game one and stronger in games two and three in this new meta to reliably be able to beat midrange strategies. I'm mainboarding three Pyreheart Wolf to combat this and no five drops, and four Hound of Griselbrand in the side as well. Hound does so much work vs midrange and really changes the game the moment he hits the field.
I went 3-0-1 on Game Day (with an intentional draw) and came in second. Won six packs, and pulled a Domri Rade out of one of them, so I consider this a victory. Here's what I was using:
Game 1 vs. BR Zombies. It was the first time I had seen BR Zombies in months, and I don't know if they can do well in the metagame at my FLGS. I got fantastic hands, and my haste + removal outclassed his "comes into play tapped" and "cannot block". 2-0.
Game 2 vs. The Aristocrats. This was a bit more of a fight, because his protection guys (Knight of Infamy, Cartel Aristocrat) are a bit harder to deal with. I was able to outpace him in the third game, though, because he kept a marginal hand and couldn't recover. 2-1.
Game 3 vs. Gruul Aggro. I feel for my opponent, since I don't know if he had any Stomping Grounds. His turns felt like they were always "Play a Gruul Guildgate, play a 2/2 Flinthoof Boar, sigh because I have no Mountains. Pass turn." I ran over him. 2-0.
Game 4 vs. Jund Midrange. Even though we IDed, we played for who would take home the playmat. I tilted in Game 3. It was embarrassing. I had one chance to take out Olivia Voldaren, didn't take it, and then was machinegunned to death. 1-2.
I love my deck. A lot of people at my FLGS have shied away from RDW and variants because if it being "boring". I'm not at that point yet. Boros Reckoners and Boros Charms make this thing disgusting. I'm wondering if I should rely on my white a bit more. Rest in Peace and Blind Obedience could be fun ways of dealing with reanimator and other aggro decks, respectively...
Modern: U Fish U RGW Burn WGR UBR Delver RBU BRGW Loam Pox WGBR BGR Dredgevine RGB
EDH: UB Wafer-thin Mints (Grimgrin, Corpse-Born) BU BR Blunt Instruments (Rakdos, Lord of Riots) RB UG All Dese (Prime Speaker Zegana) GU W Schwing! (Nahiri, the Lithomancer) W GR A.B.C. (Always. Beast. Calling.) (Ruric Thar, Unbowed) RG UBR Griefer Madness (Nekusar, the Mindrazer) RBU WUR Oprah Goes to Princess Auto (Zedruu, the Greathearted) RUW
Game 3 I had him at 8 with an attacking BTE and Boar out with rampager in hand but he ended up decaying the boar and slipping the BTE, then he won my riting a thragtusk a few times.
R2 - UWR 2-0
Saw nothing from him. Turn 3 and 4 wins.
R3 - Green home brew 2-0
See Round 2.
R4 - Naya Humans 2-0
Held back removal for his creatures and attrutioned him out with my own. Easy win here.
* I didn't have any Stromkirk Nobles until after the event so I had to settle for Waifs. They aren't bad actually. Got the job done today.
On Saturday, 4/13, I played in a PTQ in Glen Burnie, MD. It was in a smallish game store in a mall, but they leased out a vacant store next to it, so they had enough room for the PTQ. Round 1 was cramped, but they moved a few of the tables into the store itself for round 2, and by round 4 the crowd had dispersed enough that they could hold everyone comfortably in the vacant space.
I played Mono-Red Sligh, better known as RDW, for this event:
To start things off, I get paired up against a guy who I know from my LGS. He wins the die roll, and outraces me in G1. His deck is faster than mine, basically a Naya Blitz deck without Flinthoof Boar. G2, I keep a one-lander (something like Stromkirk Noble, Rakdos Cackler, Pillar of Flame, and a couple of two-drops) and miss my first land drop. He plays Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Welp. Turn 3, I hit my land drop, play a Burning-Tree Emissary into Pillar of Flame. Momentum is back on my side, and I win the race (though he probably wins with one more turn).
Game 3, he mulls to 6 on the play, I keep a very solid hand. I lead with Noble, he leads with Thalia. Once again, I Burning-Tree-Pillar his Thalia. I curve right into Reckoner and Hellrider. He has a Frontline Medic, which he follows with Champion of the Parish paired with Lightning Mauler. He proceeds to attack with only Frontline Medic into my Reckoner, which blocks and shoots the Champion, and this pretty much wrecks his whole board position. I win rather easily at this point, and he admits after the fact that he had misplayed. I was at 20 life, so attacking with batallion probably wasn't right either, and I'm not sure he had a realistic chance of winning no matter what his play was. In any case, it's a 2-1 come-from-behind win for me.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 - Zombie Aristocrats
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats, and this was no exception. G1, I curve out, use Pillar of Flame on his Blood Artist, and beat. G2, I get an early Noble going, he gets some dudes and Lingering Souls out. I play Hellrider and put a Volcanic Strength on it. Not too much to say, this match ended pretty quickly, 2-0 with about 35 minutes left on the clock.
Record: 2-0
Round 3 - Jund Zombies
This was more like Golgari Zombies with a red splash, as far as I could tell. He wins the die roll, but I take G1 -- I'm playing an aggressive game while he's sitting back on Blood Artist and Lotleth Troll. G2, he's on the play again and has too much for me to deal with. 2 Gravecrawlers, Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Artist, Geralf's Messenger... I only drew one burn spell, a Pillar which I used on the first Crawler. In hindsight, maybe that's a misplay -- I shouldn't worry too much about the Gravecrawlers, instead saving my Pillars for Artists, Messengers, and not the 2/1 can't block dudes. In any case, being unable to deal with that Nighthawk is probably what really did me in there.
On to Game 3. Pretty back and forth, we both get one-drops, he gets a Blood Artist and a Geralf's Messenger, and on the following turn I play Hellrider. He's forced to start chumping with Blood Artists while I go on the offense with a Hellrider and Reckoner. He plays Appetite for Brains while I'm holding only an Ash Zealot. Apparently he had the Appetite before I played Hellrider but played the Messenger instead. He loses, and laments the fact that he waited too long to play the Appetite. Personally, I don't think you side that in against RDW either way, but I'm not complaining. 2-1 win for me.
Win G1, G3
Record: 3-0
Round 4 - Aristocrats (Brad Jarman)
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats. However, it's not an auto-win. Sometimes, they get a bunch of Doomed Travelers, Lingering Souls, and Blood Artists followed by Boros Reckoner and/or Falkenrath Aristocrat. He got to go first in Game 1, but the next try went just as badly. I don't think I really had a chance here, he basically nut-drew and played tightly, giving me no real openings. It's an 0-2 loss for me.
I mention Brad Jarman by name, because he went undefeated in Swiss and had the best record going into T8. I played him at a GP before. Nice guy, good player.
Record: 3-1
Round 5 - UWR Flash
Game 1, he mulled to 6 on the play and beat me. Honestly, I don't remember what happened and I didn't take many notes on it. Game 2, he mulls again and is stuck with a one-lander. I keep on the play and start curving out. He misses his land drop and just scoops.
Game 3, he's on the play, I get some early beats, but he puts down a Thundermaw Hellkite and starts to beat down. He casts Sphinx's Revelation for 3. I'm able to cast Burning-Tree Emissary into Hellrider, but he's at 14 life with a Thundermaw out. What am I going to do?
Well, he's also tapped out, and I have a Zealous Conscripts in hand. Play the Conscripts. Take the Thundermaw. Attack with all. Deal more than 14 damage.
My opponent was cool about it, but was kind of dumbfounded. It was the one card that could beat him, and he didn't think I had it.
In any case, another 2-1 match win for me. Sideboards matter!
Record: 4-1
Round 6 - RG Aggro
He mulled both games. I won both games. I didn't take any real notes on this one, but I recall that he wasn't able to do much in either game other than play one-drops and put Rancors on them. I don't think Rancor is particularly good against me, nor is Rakdos Cackler. The two put together, seem particularly useless. I win 2-0, the cards weren't really on his side in this one. Like my last opponent, he was surprisingly cool about it.
Record: 5-1, #3 in standings
Now, because it's 126 people, and 7 rounds of Swiss, the only people who can draw are Brad Jarman (#1) and Brian Braun-Duin (#2), the only two remaining 6-0 players. There are 12 5-1's, all of whom must play. I have the best tiebreakers, but it's moot (for the moment) as I still have a win-and-in. It's against the #4 player, Shaheen Soorani.
Round 7 - Esper Control (Shaheen Soorani)
I win the die roll.
I don't remember what my opening hand was in game 1. I remember that it was good enough that I had no question about keeping it.
Shaheen kept his 7, with some hesitation. I play a mountain and a Noble, and he immediately knows he is in trouble. He seemed shocked that I was playing a red deck. His hand is apparently unplayable against aggro, I see two duals and two Nephalia Drownyards, and not much relevant business. By the second or third turn, he literally says "Mayday! Mayday!" He keeps his sense of humor about the whole thing, but after a few turns it's clear he just doesn't have anything. I beat down with basically no opposition, and we move to Game 2.
From what I remember, I sided out most or all of my burn in this matchup, maybe Legion Loyalist as well. Just tried to bring in threats.
Game 2, he lands a Supreme Verdict and gets a three-for-one, followed by Obzedat, Ghost Council. I can't really answer this. I'm playing from behind the rest of the match and just fizzle out.
Game 3, I start off with Rakdos Cackler, Burning-Tree Emissary into Gore-House Chainwalker. He slows me down with an Azorius Charm on the GHC. I play another GHC, but hold off on replaying the one from the top of my deck, playing around Supreme Verdict. I was right -- he clears my board.
My memory and notes of the middle of the game are a bit fuzzy here, but he got out a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, an Obzedat, Ghost Council, and a Vault of the Archangel. I was able to put out a couple of Hellriders, but he had a ton of ways to gain life, and there was just no real way for me to deal with this.
Or was there?
...
...
Once again, it's Zealous Conscripts to the rescue. He's at 8 life with no answer and has left his Obzedat out to protect against the Hellrider. I take the Obzedat, and he has no answers.
Shaheen offers the handshake, and I've made my first PTQ top 8.
He's cool about the whole thing, we wish each other luck, but he's obviously kicking himself about not mulling that first game, saying it's a weakness of his. But, as he points out, nobody likes to mulligan. The hand might have been fine in another matchup, and sometimes you have to take a chance when you're going in blind.
Record: 6-1, #4 in standings (Yes, I won my match and went down in the standings. That's how breakers work sometimes.)
Quarterfinals - RG Savagery (Tommy Ashton)
Now, my tiebreakers are finally relevant! I get to take advantage of the play-draw rule, and obviously choose to go first. The dramatic Top 8 begins!
...
Aaaaaand... the dramatic Top 8 ends rather quickly. This is an awful, awful matchup for me, and I just can't deal with him in G1. G2, I side in all 15 sideboard cards, taking out the Legion Loyalists and many of my two-drops. It doesn't really help, and I lose pretty quickly. I think it was about 10 minutes. And... like some of my previous opponents, I'm fairly cool about it. Disappointed? Yeah. It's a bit anti-climactic. But I can't be too upset. Making top 8 of a sizable event was a fairly big step for me, I got a cool playmat, a box of GTC which I traded for singles, and I had a ton of fun.
I officially finished 7th in the standings.
Epilogue
Tommy Ashton went on to face Brian Braun-Duin (Junk Reanimator) in the finals. Their match seemed to take forever, with BBD getting a Trostani out at one point with tons of tokens. It was very intense. However, we were out at the front of the store, and could hear the mall's "muzak" in the background -- this often broke up the seriousness as it provided a completely inappropriate soundtrack for the Dramatic Showdown going on. After what seemed like an eternity, BBD was able to get rid of a Ground Seal and start using his Unburial Rites, winning the Pro Tour invite.
Takeaways
- As you might imagine, I was happy with the deck. Only truly awful matchup was the heavy RG aggro. That's a really tough one, but it's not a huge part of the metagame (yet).
- Legion Loyalist and Hellion Crucible both sucked. I never once activated the Crucible, and the colorless mana was a detriment on occasion. I will not run Crucible in the future, even if that means going all-Mountain, and I will run Stonewright over Loyalist in my next tournament.
- I was happy with Boros Reckoner being in the SB rather than maindeck. Against aggro he's great, but in general I want my more aggressive card in for G1. He also doesn't work so well with BTE.
- BTE was pretty good in the main. Post-board he's sometimes not as good, but with all of the two-drops I had in here, it worked nicely.
- Pyreheart Wolf didn't come in much. I don't think he's where I want to be. Might go with Hound of Griselbrand in this slot, or something else entirely. To be fair, he's best against midrange, and I didn't face much of that.
- More burn might be worth considering.
- I'll probably make a few tweaks, as mentioned above, and run a very similar list at the WMCQ and PTQ this weekend.
On Saturday, 4/13, I played in a PTQ in Glen Burnie, MD. It was in a smallish game store in a mall, but they leased out a vacant store next to it, so they had enough room for the PTQ. Round 1 was cramped, but they moved a few of the tables into the store itself for round 2, and by round 4 the crowd had dispersed enough that they could hold everyone comfortably in the vacant space.
I played Mono-Red Sligh, better known as RDW, for this event:
To start things off, I get paired up against a guy who I know from my LGS. He wins the die roll, and outraces me in G1. His deck is faster than mine, basically a Naya Blitz deck without Flinthoof Boar. G2, I keep a one-lander (something like Stromkirk Noble, Rakdos Cackler, Pillar of Flame, and a couple of two-drops) and miss my first land drop. He plays Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Welp. Turn 3, I hit my land drop, play a Burning-Tree Emissary into Pillar of Flame. Momentum is back on my side, and I win the race (though he probably wins with one more turn).
Game 3, he mulls to 6 on the play, I keep a very solid hand. I lead with Noble, he leads with Thalia. Once again, I Burning-Tree-Pillar his Thalia. I curve right into Reckoner and Hellrider. He has a Frontline Medic, which he follows with Champion of the Parish paired with Lightning Mauler. He proceeds to attack with only Frontline Medic into my Reckoner, which blocks and shoots the Champion, and this pretty much wrecks his whole board position. I win rather easily at this point, and he admits after the fact that he had misplayed. I was at 20 life, so attacking with batallion probably wasn't right either, and I'm not sure he had a realistic chance of winning no matter what his play was. In any case, it's a 2-1 come-from-behind win for me.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 - Zombie Aristocrats
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats, and this was no exception. G1, I curve out, use Pillar of Flame on his Blood Artist, and beat. G2, I get an early Noble going, he gets some dudes and Lingering Souls out. I play Hellrider and put a Volcanic Strength on it. Not too much to say, this match ended pretty quickly, 2-0 with about 35 minutes left on the clock.
Record: 2-0
Round 3 - Jund Zombies
This was more like Golgari Zombies with a red splash, as far as I could tell. He wins the die roll, but I take G1 -- I'm playing an aggressive game while he's sitting back on Blood Artist and Lotleth Troll. G2, he's on the play again and has too much for me to deal with. 2 Gravecrawlers, Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Artist, Geralf's Messenger... I only drew one burn spell, a Pillar which I used on the first Crawler. In hindsight, maybe that's a misplay -- I shouldn't worry too much about the Gravecrawlers, instead saving my Pillars for Artists, Messengers, and not the 2/1 can't block dudes. In any case, being unable to deal with that Nighthawk is probably what really did me in there.
On to Game 3. Pretty back and forth, we both get one-drops, he gets a Blood Artist and a Geralf's Messenger, and on the following turn I play Hellrider. He's forced to start chumping with Blood Artists while I go on the offense with a Hellrider and Reckoner. He plays Appetite for Brains while I'm holding only an Ash Zealot. Apparently he had the Appetite before I played Hellrider but played the Messenger instead. He loses, and laments the fact that he waited too long to play the Appetite. Personally, I don't think you side that in against RDW either way, but I'm not complaining. 2-1 win for me.
Win G1, G3
Record: 3-0
Round 4 - Aristocrats (Brad Jarman)
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats. However, it's not an auto-win. Sometimes, they get a bunch of Doomed Travelers, Lingering Souls, and Blood Artists followed by Boros Reckoner and/or Falkenrath Aristocrat. He got to go first in Game 1, but the next try went just as badly. I don't think I really had a chance here, he basically nut-drew and played tightly, giving me no real openings. It's an 0-2 loss for me.
I mention Brad Jarman by name, because he went undefeated in Swiss and had the best record going into T8. I played him at a GP before. Nice guy, good player.
Record: 3-1
Round 5 - UWR Flash
Game 1, he mulled to 6 on the play and beat me. Honestly, I don't remember what happened and I didn't take many notes on it. Game 2, he mulls again and is stuck with a one-lander. I keep on the play and start curving out. He misses his land drop and just scoops.
Game 3, he's on the play, I get some early beats, but he puts down a Thundermaw Hellkite and starts to beat down. He casts Sphinx's Revelation for 3. I'm able to cast Burning-Tree Emissary into Hellrider, but he's at 14 life with a Thundermaw out. What am I going to do?
Well, he's also tapped out, and I have a Zealous Conscripts in hand. Play the Conscripts. Take the Thundermaw. Attack with all. Deal more than 14 damage.
My opponent was cool about it, but was kind of dumbfounded. It was the one card that could beat him, and he didn't think I had it.
In any case, another 2-1 match win for me. Sideboards matter!
Record: 4-1
Round 6 - RG Aggro
He mulled both games. I won both games. I didn't take any real notes on this one, but I recall that he wasn't able to do much in either game other than play one-drops and put Rancors on them. I don't think Rancor is particularly good against me, nor is Rakdos Cackler. The two put together, seem particularly useless. I win 2-0, the cards weren't really on his side in this one. Like my last opponent, he was surprisingly cool about it.
Record: 5-1, #3 in standings
Now, because it's 126 people, and 7 rounds of Swiss, the only people who can draw are Brad Jarman (#1) and Brian Braun-Duin (#2), the only two remaining 6-0 players. There are 12 5-1's, all of whom must play. I have the best tiebreakers, but it's moot (for the moment) as I still have a win-and-in. It's against the #4 player, Shaheen Soorani.
Round 7 - Esper Control (Shaheen Soorani)
I win the die roll.
I don't remember what my opening hand was in game 1. I remember that it was good enough that I had no question about keeping it.
Shaheen kept his 7, with some hesitation. I play a mountain and a Noble, and he immediately knows he is in trouble. He seemed shocked that I was playing a red deck. His hand is apparently unplayable against aggro, I see two duals and two Nephalia Drownyards, and not much relevant business. By the second or third turn, he literally says "Mayday! Mayday!" He keeps his sense of humor about the whole thing, but after a few turns it's clear he just doesn't have anything. I beat down with basically no opposition, and we move to Game 2.
From what I remember, I sided out most or all of my burn in this matchup, maybe Legion Loyalist as well. Just tried to bring in threats.
Game 2, he lands a Supreme Verdict and gets a three-for-one, followed by Obzedat, Ghost Council. I can't really answer this. I'm playing from behind the rest of the match and just fizzle out.
Game 3, I start off with Rakdos Cackler, Burning-Tree Emissary into Gore-House Chainwalker. He slows me down with an Azorius Charm on the GHC. I play another GHC, but hold off on replaying the one from the top of my deck, playing around Supreme Verdict. I was right -- he clears my board.
My memory and notes of the middle of the game are a bit fuzzy here, but he got out a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, an Obzedat, Ghost Council, and a Vault of the Archangel. I was able to put out a couple of Hellriders, but he had a ton of ways to gain life, and there was just no real way for me to deal with this.
Or was there?
...
...
Once again, it's Zealous Conscripts to the rescue. He's at 8 life with no answer and has left his Obzedat out to protect against the Hellrider. I take the Obzedat, and he has no answers.
Shaheen offers the handshake, and I've made my first PTQ top 8.
He's cool about the whole thing, we wish each other luck, but he's obviously kicking himself about not mulling that first game, saying it's a weakness of his. But, as he points out, nobody likes to mulligan. The hand might have been fine in another matchup, and sometimes you have to take a chance when you're going in blind.
Record: 6-1, #4 in standings (Yes, I won my match and went down in the standings. That's how breakers work sometimes.)
Quarterfinals - RG Savagery (Tommy Ashton)
Now, my tiebreakers are finally relevant! I get to take advantage of the play-draw rule, and obviously choose to go first. The dramatic Top 8 begins!
...
Aaaaaand... the dramatic Top 8 ends rather quickly. This is an awful, awful matchup for me, and I just can't deal with him in G1. G2, I side in all 15 sideboard cards, taking out the Legion Loyalists and many of my two-drops. It doesn't really help, and I lose pretty quickly. I think it was about 10 minutes. And... like some of my previous opponents, I'm fairly cool about it. Disappointed? Yeah. It's a bit anti-climactic. But I can't be too upset. Making top 8 of a sizable event was a fairly big step for me, I got a cool playmat, a box of GTC which I traded for singles, and I had a ton of fun.
I officially finished 7th in the standings.
Epilogue
Tommy Ashton went on to face Brian Braun-Duin (Junk Reanimator) in the finals. Their match seemed to take forever, with BBD getting a Trostani out at one point with tons of tokens. It was very intense. However, we were out at the front of the store, and could hear the mall's "muzak" in the background -- this often broke up the seriousness as it provided a completely inappropriate soundtrack for the Dramatic Showdown going on. After what seemed like an eternity, BBD was able to get rid of a Ground Seal and start using his Unburial Rites, winning the Pro Tour invite.
Takeaways
- As you might imagine, I was happy with the deck. Only truly awful matchup was the heavy RG aggro. That's a really tough one, but it's not a huge part of the metagame (yet).
- Legion Loyalist and Hellion Crucible both sucked. I never once activated the Crucible, and the colorless mana was a detriment on occasion. I will not run Crucible in the future, even if that means going all-Mountain, and I will run Stonewright over Loyalist in my next tournament.
- I was happy with Boros Reckoner being in the SB rather than maindeck. Against aggro he's great, but in general I want my more aggressive card in for G1. He also doesn't work so well with BTE.
- BTE was pretty good in the main. Post-board he's sometimes not as good, but with all of the two-drops I had in here, it worked nicely.
- Pyreheart Wolf didn't come in much. I don't think he's where I want to be. Might go with Hound of Griselbrand in this slot, or something else entirely. To be fair, he's best against midrange, and I didn't face much of that.
- More burn might be worth considering.
- I'll probably make a few tweaks, as mentioned above, and run a very similar list at the WMCQ and PTQ this weekend.
Hey!
I was the Gruul deck you played against in the 6th round and my luck just got worse after i faced you and ended up in 35th.
CONGRATS on your win man, it was my first PTQ so im really not that salty about losing. Its great to hear a fellow red aggro made it to top 8 and also makes me feel better about losing to ya. Keep it up!
hey everyone. yesterday (5/12/13) the local store hosted a tournament with 3 booster boxes to the winner, and 1 to everyone else in the semis, 1/4 to the rest of the top 8. it brought players from all over the state, so i made a few adjustments to the usual matchups. this is the deck i ran
really the only noticeable changes were -3 daring skyjack +3 nearheath pilgrim. aggro has been getting pretty hot at this store so i needed to be ready for the mirror matchup. the host decided to go 5 rounds, so ill describe them as best as i can remember.
round 1: rackdos midrange
this was not a terrible deck, but not a bad one either. game one we traded some blows but he couldnt stop the multitude of creatures. i remember getting t1 elite into t2 mauler into t3 medic hasted, nothing special after that but he couldnt handle 8 indestructable coming at him every turn
game two i kept a decent hand but drew into a mana flood. thalia saved my butt from the 1 hit KO combo he was try to run (a card that made me lose half my life every turn plus a curse that dealt double damage whenever i lost life) eventually i managed to use slayers stronghold with thalia's first strike to break down his blockers.
1-0
round 2: jund midrange
game one was crazy, by crazy i mean t1 champion of the parish, t2 thalia, t3 mauler and elite bonded swing for eleven. he scooped at the end of his next turn.
game two a got a hellrider bonded with a nearheath pilgrim, an interesting combination because hellriders direct damage from his affect also triggers lifelink. he was starting to fight back, but i bluffed him into taking 1 point of dasmage when he was at 5 life and then finished him with a boros charm he didnt know i had.
2-0
round 3:boros aggro
this was my mirror matchup, some pretty crazy games. game one i kept a 6 mana 1 reckoner hand and drew into all my middle turn damaging creatures, while he kept a good small hand and then got flooded.
game 2 he pinged me to the edge while i waited on mana, but then he got stuck on 3 mana with 2 warleader helix's in his hand. i finally drew the mana i needed to play hellrider, bonded it was nearheath, and equipped it with volcanic strength. he scooped soon after.
3-0
round 4: bant lifegain.
this was the frustrating round. game one i ramped out before she got going, but g2 and 3 she used centuar healer to keep her around long enough to get thrag and start blinking it. i helplessly watched her stabilize and flip the game around.
3-1
round 5: G/B aggro
we decided to play because the matchup didnt guarantee 3-1-1 to make top 8. two perfect ramps and that was all she wrote. first tournament bigger then fnm, first top 8
4-1
so the standing come out, because of tiebreakers (4 of the 5 people i played made top 8) i got 2nd. the g/b aggro i just beat got 7th, so its a rematch
quarterfinals:
game one looked just like last round, and it looked like it would be an easy win. game 2 a kept a hand that looked good only to realize i had all red cards with 2 plains and a slayers' stronghold. by the time i stabilized her predator ooze was to big. game 3 i mulled down to five but couldnt afford to go lower. i should have. in 8 turns i got a total of 2 lands, the second not till t7. she chipped away and away i went.
so i walk out with 1/4 a box, only to learn later the top 4 split the 6 boxes... so to games of terrible luck lost me 5/4 of a box. not taking anything away from my opponent, she ran a cool and powerful deck, but mine was definitely a little faster. hers wasnt as prepared for the mirror matchup. so here i sit wondering how to improve my deck and trying to accept theres nothing i can do to make up for bad luck. i guess i just need to read some articles on proper mulliganing... if thats a word.
one question i have is if theres any godly way to beat a resto/thrag combo... if so i cant find it. skullcrack helps but she just smiled and flashed it next run... any ideas would be appreciated. my only idea is to take it and kill it so i get the token...
EXTREMELY BRIEF TOURNAMENT REPORT (1-2 drop at the Durham, NC SCG Elite IQ $2k with the list in the sig)
Match 1 vs Jund Aristocrats
We both mull to 5; I keep a loose hand that should put on some pressure but his grip of 2x land 3x Pillar of Flame manage to control the game long enough for him to do his thing. Game two I swing him down to about 7 before he Thragtusks and Lingering souls his way to 12. I rip a Blasphemous Act to go with the Reckoner. Game 3 involves my never drawing a second land off of a mull to 5. Yeah. 0-1 (1-2)
Match 2 vs (also) Junk Aristocrats (Chris Vanmeter)
Game one he stabilizes relatively early after a really loose keep of a six on my part and wins off that. Game two I win a very long and fought-out battle that (also) involved Blasphemous Act, and game three involved him never drawing a third land.
Match 3 vs Junk Reanimator/Ramp thingy
Kill. Me. Now. Game one he casts a turn three Tusk, flashes it, reanimates it twice, etc. etc. Game two he has a really loose keep, I Electrickery his mana dorks, and go T4 T5 T6 Hellriders ftw. Game three was one of the toughest games of Magic I ever played, getting him to one life several times, but he always had another Tusk or another Rites. I didn't expect to see this deck... I was playing control back when Tusk was $25, but now I see how the aggro players felt playing against it.
My buddy went 5-2 with mono-black featuring Mutilate and Wight of Precinct Six, which got him $50. I cubed.
CONCLUSIONS: Blasphemous Act is excellent, but if your meta is Thragtusk and red Aristocrats, might not be a good deck choice anyway.
I apologize for not facing any top tier decks- I went down to an FNM I hadn't gone to in a while and everyone was playing his/her own brew for some reason- not to mention there were a bunch of new people.
Round 1: Mono Red Young Pyromancer (I think) Game 1: I mull to 6 and see a Crag, Cackler, Scooze, and some other stuff I don't remember. The other guy, who was a new kid at the store, led off with a mountain and I put down the Crag tapped. I didn't see another land for a while, but it was okay because the kid just played a few Krenko's Command and kept chump blocking my Cackler. I ended up drawing a BTE and finally a land and starting throwing down my dudes. He kept burning them for some reason (he must've had at least 12 damage worth of burn he chucked at my non-threatening guys) and in the end my creatures beat his tokens. Game 2: I had a 1 land hand, but I had several Cacklers. He got mana screwed and it was short.
Round 2: Orzhov Combo/Extort Game 1: The guy had the Exquisite Blood Sanguine Bond combo and bunch of extorters. I didn't know though. First game he ran out high priest of penance and I slapped down Madcap Skills on a Cackler. I follow it up with a second madcap skills and started going to town. He finally landed a Vizkopa Guildmage to block and I pillared it for game. Game 2: He double duressed me, removing a pillar and madcap skills. I had reckoner and a bunch of stuff and beat on him pretty hard. He finally landed a Pontiff of Blight to block and Merciless Evictioned to clear the board. He was at 3 life. I had a Hellrider in hand.
Round 3: A Rakdos Control deck I built for my friend Game 1: My friend is a huge fan of Tibalt so I built him a Rakdos Control deck similar to the Tibbles and Bits deck from last Standard. It poops on aggro and has a decent game against control as well. At any rate, he was on a roll today- he had the "aura," so to speak. He drew the absolute nuts and wrecked me. Game 2: He drew the nuts but I got him to 1 and topdecked a Searing Spear before he started gaining life from Homicidal Seclusion. Game 3: Again, he drew the nuts for the 3rd time and had an answer to everything I played, including drawing Doom Blade 3 times in a row for my Reckoners. I got him to 4 and had a Searing Spear in hand but he had Homicidal Seclusion out and kept top decking creatures and Mutavault. Every time he topdecked a creature, I killed it and the next turn I would hit another spear. It was incredibly frustrating and eventually he got the Chandra's Phoenix he needed to seal the deal with lifegain. I could have won, but I misplayed and killed the Mutavault even though it had summoning sickness- I would've topdecked the final burn spell the next turn.
Round 4: Boros Aggro Game 1: The guy didn't have a lot of plays aside from a Champion of the Parish turn 2 and a Hellrider turn 4. I had no clue what was in his hand but I drew pretty well and ran him over turn 5 with my own Hellrider. Game 2: The guy didn't hit the second red he needed for his Hellrider. But even if he did, I had total board control and ran him through.
Round 5: Dega Control Thing Game 1: Even though I got paired down, I was really happy to play this guy since he was a friend I hadn't seen for a really long time. He seemed fairly new to the game and he was borrowing cards from his brother who frequents the store (I had no clue they were brothers). I ran him through. Game 2: He got badly mana-screwed and I ran him through.
I finished 4-1 and 5th place (no Cackler promo!)
All in all, I think the deck performed admirably and I learned that it punishes any sort of brew xD. It's a crazy efficient tournament deck and it does what it does.
Went 4-1 with R/G Aggro at local FNM against UWR midrange, UB Zombies, Junk Reanimator, Junk "good stuff" Midrange, and BW Humans. Check it out the details on my MTGsalvation blog.
Heres the Deck list, Side boarding/mulligan tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
I know this is a block constructed deck but it still made me think a bit about new cards and was an interesting test.
Soooo...
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
2 X Spark Trooper
1 X Firemane Avenger
4 X Skyknight Legionnaire
4 X Ash Zealot
4 X Chainwalker
4 X Firefist Striker
4 X Rakdos Cackler
4 X Foundry Street Denizen
3 X Annihilating Fire
3 X Madcap Skills
2 X Mugging
3 X Mizzium Mortars
Lands:
1 X Sacred Foundry
14 X Mountain
7 X Plains
3 X Bomber Corps
3 X Skinbrand Goblin
2 X Electrickery
1 X Shattering Blow
2 X Skullcrack
2 X Arrows of Justice
2 X Act of Treason
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
Round 4: Crazy WUG creation using Unexpected Results and Urban Evolution and Azorius Charm and Simic Charm to slow down faster decks. This also had Verdant Haven and the "Lantern of Mana Colors" for fixing though he still played a number of guildgates. Won the die roll.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Final Bracket: Esper Control with Obzedat, Ghost Council - won the die roll
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
Sideboarding:
Against Gruul, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw on game 2.
Against Naya, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw (Game 2 and 3)
Against Boros, -2 Annihilating Fire, +2 Electrickery and on the draw, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason.
Against Crazy Simic, -3 Madcap Skills, +2 Act of Treason and +1 Skinbrand Goblin (this really should have been a Skullcrack - didn't think at the time) - left the deck this way for game 3 as well.
Same Boarding against Boros the second time.
Against Esper Ghost Council, -3 Madcap Skills, -1 Annihilating Fire, +2 Act of Treason, +1 Arrows of Justice
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stormkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Falkenwrth Aristocrat
2 Hellrider
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Dreadbore
23 Land
11 Mountain
1 Godless Shrine
3 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Duress
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Olivia Voldaren
2 Hound of Grislebrand
2 Ultimate Price
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Tribute to Hunger
Gameday Matches (6-1)
Game 1 vs Gruul Aggro (2-0)
It was nothing special here for the most part, he couldn't get any creature to stick and eventually my Reckoners and Ash Zealots took him down without the help of Aristocrats or Hellrider.
G2 I side-boarded into a more control role and it worked out. With more removal and eventually Hound I was able to stop all his threats even with bloodrush with a Spear or Price in response. Hound and Zealots defended the ground while Aristocrat and eventually the one Thundermaw came to seal the deal.
-4 Cackler, -2 Noble, +2 Hounds, +2 Tribute, +2 Ultimate Price
Game 2 vs Naya Midrangish (2-0)
This deck was pretty top heavy. He had Smiters, Thundermaws, Reckoners and no Thragtusk's that I saw.
Basically both games he couldn't get any draws, few creatures the first game and was stuck on two lands the second game. Brought him very low with an unleash cackler both games, then curved out Reckoners/Hellrider/Aristocrat/Thundermaw to finish.
No sideboard
Game 3 vs Mono-black Control (2-0)
Pretty homebrewish deck and just couldn't keep up. He had mutilate but never drew and just killed his creatures while rushing him down both times.
No sideboard
Game 4 vs U/G Aggro (Predator Ooze) (1-2)
This deck got me good and really good. It ran Zameck Guildmage, Strangleroot Geist, Predator Ooze.
G1: I had a great draw, Stromkirk into Knights of Infamy into Reckoner into Aristocrat for over the top damage. He had a guildmage and strangleroot, but was easily ran over.
G2: Right when I saw the strangleroots, I wished I had 4 pillars for exile but didn't so I had to make due with what I had. Kept a decent hand but his was outstanding. He has 3 Geist and a Guildmage out eventually and I had no answers and drew no removal. He did a neat little trick with blocking/attacking with Geist then undying and removing the counter with the guildmage's first ability. Every time I would block he would simic charm for +3/+3 and I had no defenders after that.
-3 Knights, -1 Stromkirk, +2 Tribute, +1 Server, +1 Ultimate Price
G3: Ran about the same, couldn't get any cards and Predator Ooze came out and I had no answers to the onslaught of strangleroots, Garruk, and guildmage doing his thing.
Top 8
Quarterfinal vs B/R Aggro with Zombies (2-0)
Basically the same deck as Dos Raki but with Zombies. Drew well and had Pillar for his Messenger, and basically had Zealot on the defense while Hellrider and Aristocrat came out to do damage over the top. At one point he had a Knight and Aristocrat on the field. Dreadbored the Knight, passed turned then Speared his Aristocrat with no sac outlet on his draw phase and he scoooped shortly after.
G2: Sideboarded more removal to take out all his aggro and it was a close game, don't remember the details but I was at 2 life and he was 3 and eventually stalled out into a Spear for the win.
-2 Cacklers, -2 Knights, +2 Ultimate Price, +2 Tribute
Semifinal vs RDW with Vexing Devil (2-0)
Was pretty scared against this deck it was fast, weird option with Vexing though. He started with a Devil and I took 4. When you say mirror it was uncannily a 'mirror' match. Both of us had Nobles and those eventually got pillared. Then Ash Zealots that got Spear/Dreadbored. and Reckoners that were Speared also. Eventually he didn't have an answer for my Aristocrat and was able to swing twice until it got pillared, then he couldn't draw the 4th land and I played Hellrider shortly after and swung for the win.
G2: Sideboarded for control again
He was stuck on two land and I removed his small creatures. Hound came out and he couldn't really attack anymore and Aristocrat and Thundermaw came out ending the game quickly.
-4 Cackler, -2 Knight, +2 Hounds, +2 Tribute, +2 Ultimate Price
Finals vs Naya Midrange (2-0)
Same Naya Midrange as last time. He started the day pretty bad in Swiss but sneaked as 8th and made it to the finals. Did a blessing to me as he took out the G/U deck that I had a problem with.
Game was not that exciting he basically got screwed again on mana/creatures. We both mulled to 5 and I had good enough cards to take him down with a Zealot and Knight.
Game notes and Observations
Was the second time I played Dos Raki and had a great time and success. I started with RDW but got smashed by big creatures because I was not able to deal enough by T4/5. Merged with black and its great now, the removal package is amazing, being able to take care of reckoners without killing my guys or hurting me with dreadbore is great. The mid to end game of the deck is also very strong with Aristocrats and Hellkites. At one point Aristocrat was doing 6 damage per turn with exalted and hellrider out. I had stonewright on FNM and took him out for 2 more dreabores and didn't really notice the difference. Overall I really enjoy playing R/B and hope to church out more packs at FNM!
22 Mountain
Creatures
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
2 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Traitorous Blood
3 Brimstone Volley
4 Reckless Waif
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Skullcrack
3 Volcanic Strength
2 Archwing Dragon
Cards that probably warrant some commentary:
Legion Loyalist - I sided him out in every game. Seems really weak. Even in the "god mode" situation where I flooded the board with Noble, Zealot, Reckoner, and then dropped a Loyalist and swung for the "alpha strike", they just blocked the Loyalist and he died immediately. I got some extra damage through but I think I'd rather play... well... anything. I'll play it again, give it one more chance to redeem itself... but... meh.
OK OK on the plus side when they drop Huntmaster of the Fells, instead of trading with a wolf and a Huntmaster you bypass the wolf token, and you can get around a Lingering Souls blocking strategy. I've noticed (at my LGS) that a lot of decks rely on Farseek into Huntmaster/Thrag to live, and honestly once they hit Huntmaster it can become a tough uphill fight.
No Hellion Crucible or Rogue's Passage or Cavern of Souls - Yeah... I want consistency. I want everything to be a R mana to me. Taking a hand with two Mountains and a Boros Reckoner and drawing a Hellion Crucible might end the game not in your favour. I want to be able to Ash Zealot and Pillar of Flame at the same time! So, no spell lands. In regards to the "it allows you to sink mana into something later" argument, I'm not sold on it because I fully intend to end the game before that. If the game gets away from you, Hellion Crucible isn't bringing you back, lets be honest.
Gore-House Chainwalker - I needed a 3 power 2-drop. Lots of things with 3 toughness (boar, reckoner, thrag, etc).
Traitorous Blood - Reasonably impressed. Considering going to 4 of in the MD. You can negate a Thragtusks 5 life and the fact that he's a blocker with Traitorous. Most common targets are Thragtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite and Boros Reckoner. TB works in two ways: removes a blocker (which is extremely relevant vs Thragtusk / Boros Reckoner), and damage boost. I chained two Traitorous Blood's on the enemies Thundermaw Hellkite for a cool 10.
Archwing Dragon - it's a bit touch and go. A bit of a troll card. It works against some people. I'll probably cut it though.
~~~~
The games, lightning style!
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Round 1: 2-0 vs R/G
Game 1: Curved out and took the win.
Game 2: Brought in Volcanic Strength. Game two I aggressively mulliganed to a hand with Volcanic Strength in it. Played Noble, equipped Volcanic Strength (making him a 4/4 after attacks), and was unkillable with Searing Spear and the game was mine.
Round 2: 2-0 vs U/G
Game 1: Curve out... sort of. Take the win on turn 5 or 6.
Game 2: Didn't see his deck at all so I brought in Reckless Waif thinking he was control. I play Waif and he plays a bunch of 1 and 2 drops. Doh! I put him to 3 life, and he attempts to Flashback Increased Savagery on a very beefy Cloudfin Raptor, but is unable to do so because of Ash Zealot. I then swing for a large amount.
Round 3: 2-1 vs Naya
Game 1: Stalls me with Reckoner, Thragtusks and Huntmasters. Things go poorly.
Game 2: Bring in Volcanic Strength and Skullcrack. Mulligan to a hand with Volcanic Strength. Play Noble, cast Volcanic Strength (before he untaps to get Searing Spear) and then plow him for the win.
Game 3: Exactly the same as game 2.
Round 4: 2-1 vs Naya
Game 1: I curve and get him.
Game 2: Bring in Volcanic Strength and Skullcrack. Mulligan aggressively for a hand with Volcanic Strength, find a hand with a Noble and Volcanic Strength but only 1 Mountain, on the play. I keep it, draw and miss a land, play Noble, pass. Draw, miss land... swing with Noble... I missed my 2nd land until about turn 5 at which point he double Thragtusked and I was done. Funny thing was I still nearly had him on 1 land!
Game 3: Same as last game but I have two land in hand (and stall on two land!) but plow him with Noble and Volcanic Strength. I Spear his Arbor Elf and Skullcrack when his Tusk shows up. Game is mine.
~~~~~
OBSERVATIONS
~~~~~
1. Need more Skullcrack.
2. Possibly go to 4 Volcanic Strength.
3. Possibly go to 4 Traitorous Blood.
4. Might ditch Pillar of Flame entirely. Not necessarily synonymous with my point 5, below.
5. Being able to operate on 2 mana seems important for people wanting to run 22 lands or less.
6. Legion Loyalist is sub-par. Outclassed immediately.
7. Naya does actually give me a beatdown. I rely very heavily on getting a Volcanic Strength out early. I need more tech for this matchup. I now see why some people main Volcanic Strength (because you gotta win every Naya MU you can!). Your MU is a lot better if you can put Volcanic Strength on a toughness 2 creature (so Searing Spear doesn't hit it).
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
1 Slayer's Stronghold
13 Mountain
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
2 Lightning Mauler
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
4 Searing Spear
4 Boros Charm
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
3 Skullcrack
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Restoration Angel
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Volcanic Strength
FNM 2-22, 23 players, 5 rounds.
I got there late but they added me anyways and gave me the round 1 bye.
Round 2 vs. Esper Control
Game 1 we go back and forth, I lose two Ash Zealots to a Detention Sphere, and a Reckoner to another Sphere, but I had all 4 Zealots in hand by turn 2. Still, he should have won this game but for some reason forgot Zealot's passive ability and flashbacked a Think Twice with two Zealots on the field.
Game 2 I side in Angels, Hellkite, Skullcrack, and Thalia. I get him to 1, then I have lethal but he Sphinx's Revelationed for 2 (after I stole a white source to activate my slayer's stronghold with Conscripts, Tamiyo was keeping my only white source tapped down) and wiped my board. He eventually took it with a suited up 11/1 Lingering Souls token while I never drew a Boros Charm, or Skullcrack, or Searing Spear. (Pillars were boarded out). Dimir Charm sealed my fate literally, binning my other Conscripts and a Hellrider and leaving me with a land (white source, ironically.)
Game 3 never really got started as game 2 took so long. Still, I felt fortunate to walk away from an Esper game with a draw.
Round 2 vs. Bant-Run control
Game 1 I was on the play, and he couldn't find a second white source for Supreme Verdict. The turn he did I was holding Boros Charm backup anyways.
Game 2, same story. He got flooded out on colorless lands while I curved out perfectly.
Round 3 vs. Boros aggro
Game 1 I win the die roll and lose anyways to inferior draws.
Game 2 I just flood out and get steamrolled.
Round 4 vs. Naya mostly humans aggro
Game 1 was back and forth, but Huntmaster just gave too much value, and Loxodon Smiter is just too big without Mortars.
Game 2 I am on the play and Have 3 Stromkirk Nobles in play by turn 2. It was over really quickly.
Game 3 I get stuck on a pair of Sacred Foundries for land. I am forced to play defense with Ash Zealots, a pair of them hold off Smiter for a turn but he flips over a Searing Spear and just wrecks me with the Rancor'ed up Smiter, 2x Ash Zealot, and a flipped Huntmaster. Winner made top 8, which consisted of three aggro decks (Naya humans, Naya Zoo, and mono red), an Orzhov tokens deck, and 4 midrange decks (Jund,Jund, Dega, Raka) . So, in the two weeks I've been running Boros, I like it, but it definitely has issues with decks that can go bigger, faster, with Smiters. Is Mizzium Mortars the only out for that guy in Boros?
To remove it with Red, probably, yes. White you have access to exile effects like Oblivion Ring.
He is a frustration, but he can also be played around without removing him. If they are Naya, usually I board in 4 Volcanic Strengths and mulligan until I see one in my hand. You can just run around him.
Another thing to try would be Traitorous Blood (I run 4 in my 75). You remove him as a blocker and sneak a cool 4 damage. I run 4 of them because I want to flood with them in hand so I can chain-cast it turn after turn!
Stonewright into Ash Zealot is an OK move - pumping first strike...
I run 4 Mizzium Mortas, 4 Traitorous Blood and 4 Volcanic Strength, and between them I find that I can play around Loxodon Smiter. It's still not the cleanest answer, but it works well enough. Sometimes some cards just ruin your day.
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
4 Searing Spear
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Boros Charm
Land: 23
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred Foundry
12 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Boros Charm
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Electrickery
3 Rest in Peace
2 Brimstone Volley
2 Reckless Waif
Notable results:
Against Naya Blitz, Electrickery is excellent, especially with the number of first strikers in the deck. I probably shouldn't have won that match, but I was able to hit critical creatures with removal at the right time.
Zealous Conscripts is about the only way that this deck can deal with an opposing Boros Reckoner. I feel like my opponents misplayed theirs and were attacking too much with them, allowing me to turn them around into them. I would frequently burn out opposing Reckoners to reduce board damage.
Nothing beats being lucky. Thanks to this forum, I was able to put together a pretty good deck and know how to play it. That said, it helps when you draw on the curve and don't get mana screwed. I don't think this is a T1 deck, but it's fun and quick to play and can hose control pretty well.
Stuff I'd change:
Brimstone Volley - May not be the best fit for the sb. Not sure when to bring it in. After getting crushed in a previous tournament to the Aristocrats, I thought it'd give me some reach with their constant sacking. I haven't seen Aristocrats in my meta, and so I haven't played the card. Also, the casting cost gets into obscene areas with Thalia.
Rest in Peace - I've never really had to use it because I can typically outrun reanimator.
Reckless Waif - I may change in the future, but I didn't play against any control last night and this is mainly a on-the-play creature against an opponent who is going to drop a shockland on turn 1.
May remove it for something, but not sure what. I'm open to ideas! (Maybe Oblivion Ring to stop other Reckoners? Maybe War Priest of Thune to stop Blind Obedience and opposing Pacifisms?)
Any feedback would be welcome!
-Scott-
4x Ash Zealot
3x Boros Reckoner
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
3x Knight of Infamy
2x Stonewright
3x Stromkirk Captain
4x Stromkirk Noble
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
3x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
3x Godless Shrine
12x Mountain
Instant (5)
3x Searing Spear
2x Ultimate Price
Sorcery (5)
3x Dreadbore
2x Mizzium Mortars
3x Blasphemous Act
3x Rakdos Charm
2x Rakdos's Return
3x Slaughter Games
4x Volcanic Strength
Apparently, since the last time I went to FNM, the meta changed from hyper-aggressive Naya and Jund aggro into Bant control, so most of my sideboard was pretty useless. So in an attempt to be sly and slip an aggressive R/B deck into the scene I got taken by surprise instead.
Round One / 2-1
VS. Bant Control
Game 1: I thought I was in trouble when the guy sat down and he whipped out the GTC Game Day Champion playmat. He dropped BlOb and I hate this card now. But I aggroed him to death by curving perfectly from Stromkirk Noble, into Ash Zealot, into Reckoner, into Aristocrat, into Hellkite.
Game 2: I boarded in Slaughter Games to deal with Detention Sphere and BlOb, but never drew one. Also Rakdos's Return to try and kill his card advantage. He found a groove with one Angel of Serenity in his hand and a second in his graveyard and managed to just cycle through the two of them, clearing my board and exiling the Angel in his yard until I removed his Angel, which brought the second Angel back to his hand and sent the first one to his yard... I did the best I could, but ran out of removal and BlOb kept me from playing aggressive.
Game 3: Boarded in Rakdos Charm to put a stop to that Angel of Serenity crap. I aggroed him down to 2, then he played a Reckoner to match my own and passed with enough untapped mana to drop a Verdict. I could probably have dropped the Aristocrat and tried to swing for a win, but the untapped mana made me nervous. Rakdos's Return for game.
Round Two / 0-2
VS. Bant/Door to Nothingness
Game 1 & Game 2: This guy has been playing Magic since the LGS was brand new and I was in middle school, so I don't feel too awfully terrible about this loss. His deck was stupid. Both of these matches went down pretty much the same. I got him down to 2 Life in game one, and he was sweating it, but he cast Unexpected Results into Omniscience, then puked his deck onto the board until he could activate Door to Nothingness. Couldn't get a Rakdos Charm out fast enough. So yeah... there's that.
Round Three / 2-1
VS. BUG Humanimator
Game 1: Turn 1 I cast Stromkirk Noble. He plays Steam Vents and passes. Turn 2 I play Ash Zealot and swing for 3. He draws and passes. Turn 3 I play Reckoner. He scoops. Fastest win ever.
Game 2: Having not seen his deck at all, I opt not to sideboard. I almost had him this game, but he got an infinite combo off. Reanimate Angel of Glory’s Rise, returning Burning-Tree Emissary, Undercity Informer and Fiend Hunter, with Fiend Hunter eating the Angel. Use one Emissary mana to sacrifice itself to mill the opponent with Undercity Informer. Then, use the second Emissary mana to sacrifice Fiend Hunter to Undercity Informer. Angel returns, bringing with it Fiend Hunter and BTE. Lather, rinse, repeat until I'm decked out.
Game 3: Board in Slaughter Games and Rakdos Charm. Cast Slaughter Games for Angel of Glory's Rise, then a second Slaughter Games for Fiend Hunter. Then smash.
Round Three / 1-2
VS. Bant Wolf Run
Game 1: I dropped him to 2, he stabilized with Thragtusk, D-Sphered my Aristocrat, cleared my board with Verdict and swung with Mini 'Tusk inflated by Kessig Wolf Run. It was brutal.
Game 2: Volcanic Strength won me this match. He D-Sphered two Aristocrats, but I drew a third. He misplayed by attacking with Reckoner, which I blocked with KoI. Next turn I swung in, essentially unblocked.
Game 3: This one went on forever. Witchbane Orb really pumped my brakes, and I didn't have a Rakdos Charm boarded in because I didn't see it in game 1 or 2. Rhox Faithmender and Loxodon on his board, Reckoner, Ash Zealot and two Nobles on mine. My fliers versus his removal suite is what it came down to. He stabilized from 3 or 4 back up to 17 or 18 with Sphinx's Revelation twice. He played Wolf Run, dropped Verdict, cast a Reckoner and passed. My top deck was a Mountain.
And that's how it went down! I had fun, and I think once I get more familiar with my meta I can definitely increase my wins.
4 Arbor Elf
4 Experiment One
4 Gyre Sage
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Skarrg Guildmage
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Wolfir Silverheart
3 Increasing Savagery
3 Domri Rade
1 Clan Defiance
Lands
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
9 Forest
5 Mountain
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Gruul Charm
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Volcanic Strength
2 Searing Spear
Went 3-1 with this list. Can't really get into detail with the matchups so summaries:
Match 1 - UG Delver 2-1 (P-D-P)
Game 1 was a beating from me because he seemed to have kept a mediocre hand. Unfortunately I didn't get much info from him thinking it was a control deck, so I didn't board in my removals. Next game, he had a turn 2 flipped Delver with a ciphered Hands of Binding, effectively tapping my Arbor Elf. Lost the game with just damage from the Delver. Next game was a bit close when he got a big Quirion Dryad with another Cipher. I had Skarrg Guildmage down though and making my land a 4/4 every turn.
Match 2 - Jund Aggro 2-1 (P-D-P)
Game 1, he didn't get any red source until late into the game and it was too late. Game 2 was a lot better for him when he had good removal in his hand that dealt with my creatures. Game 3 was a little bit similar to game 1, but I kept dropping creatures every turn.
Match 3 - Aristocrats 2-0 (P-D)
Curving both games and exhausting his removal suite were the key factors on how I won. He didn't also get a much needed red source to cast Falkenrath Aristocrat in time.
Match 4 - Aristocrats 1-2 (P-D-P)
Game 1 was a brutal beating from me. Game 2 was where I made the mistake that led me to a downward spiral. When given the option to kill a 2/2 Champion of the Parish and a Skirsdarg High Priest, I chose the Champion thinking I can deal with the priest later. That was a bad choice because he was able to drop 2 more creatures, Tragic Slip an Arbor Elf of mine and drop a 5/5. Needless to say, a lost match. Game 3 was just a bad draw for me. Mulliganed a Strangleroot, 6-land hand to a 2-Strangleroot, 4 land hand. Two threats at least, so I kept. After an early Mizzium Mortars on a Cartel Aristocrat and trades with Doomed Travelers (which was bad play on my part), I drew land for 5 straight turns while he was amassing Human tokens with 3 consecutive Gather the Townsfolk and a Vampire Nighthawk. My life trickled away and when I dropped a Ghor-Clan Rampager and get to attack next turn, I said screw it and play to my outs. I had ten land with a Kessig Wolf Run (total of 11 damage - 4 toughness from his creatures). I figured if I topdeck a Thundermaw, I would win the game next two turns. Attacked, he sacced, and he slipped my Ghor-Clan. He attacks next turn and left me at 2 life while he sat at 21. Next turn I topdecked a Thundermaw.
I still ended up 2nd place with him at 1st place so not bad.
Card Performance
Clan Defiance didn't see play, and I think I'll cut it because it's just slow even in a potential deck that can use it (I can generate lots of mana with Gyre Sage).
Increasing Savagery is a threat, specially when you can drop it on a Gyre Sage, cast a big creature like Silverheart, and add 10 counters next turn. Might bring it back to 4 since I cut one for Clan Defiance
Skarrg Guildmage is still a card. I'm surprised few people use him. He attracts removal because they will see him as a real threat.
Also, I lack one Thundermaw Hellkite. It should be a three of, and removal is a 4-of.
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
The MU vs control was surprisingly good post-board. My losses were both to hyper fast aggro, they demolished me before I could establish a real board presence.
Any insight for that matchup?
Since this deck lacks spot removal game 1, you should just do your best bringing in fatties like Flinthoof Boar and Ghor-Clan Rampager into the board. Having your one drops are also important. Strangleroot Geist is actually a very good defensive card specially with most people not having the full 4 Pillars these days.
Post board it gets easier. Board out Domri Rade for actual spot removal. If on the play, you don't need to board too much. Increasing Savagery is much more riskier to use if they might be holding instant speed removal in their hand, so that might need to come out as well.
On the draw, Experiment One comes out as well since he takes time before he actually grows big. I also board in Garruk for those matchups. Volcanic Strength can do a lot of work, and is one of the main reasons I won my Jund Aggro matchup last night (VS on a bonded Silverheart).
Sadly, you can't do as much as we would like to against their nutdraws (multiple BTE's, turn 4 kills, etc). Do not be afraid to trade a lot to control their board presence if needed.
But really, the more important thing is to always determine who is the aggressor in the round so you can adjust your strategy accordingly. This deck can race if needed, specially if you drop early Skarrg Guildmages and Strangleroots.
If you're playing against Boros Reckoner btw, it gets a bit harder. You'll definitely need your Savageries and a source trample for this matchup to properly get around him.
My posts have the power of invisiblity and only a few people can read it!
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
2 Legion Loyalist
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Searing Spear
9 Forest
5 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
3 Mark of Mutiny
4 Skullcrack
4 Volcanic Strength
4 Wasteland Viper
I don't remember everything so I apologize if it's not too detailed. I'll briefly explain my matchups and how they went.
Round 1:Boros Aggro (W 2-1)
Game 1:I lost because I kept a hand I shouldn't of kept and got land screwed.
Game 2:He ended up getting land screwed and I won because of it.
Game 3:I ended up opening multiple Emissary and he scooped on turn 3.
Round 2:RDW (W 2-0)
Game 1:We raced but he ended up scooping after I got the better start.
Game 2:He got stuck on 1 land the entire game. He had 2 Cackler w/unleash and Loyalist out but that didn't help him and I ended up winning a few turns later.
Round 3:Reanimator (W 2-0)
Game 1:I went aggro against him and he couldn't combo off fast enough to win.
Game 2:He sided out the reanimator stuff for aggro which I wasn't expecting. I ended up winning after stealing his Strangleroot Geist w/Mark of Mutiny and swinging for the win.
Round 4:Mono Green Aggro (W 2-1)
Game 1:I went aggro before he could and he scooped after realizing he couldn't save himself even if he blocked.
Game 2:It was close but he ended up taking it with Vorapede/Revenge of the Hunted.
Game 3:I open with 2 Ghor-Clan Rampager. I get him down to 3 and I seal the game with a Searing Spear.
Round 5:B/W Zombies (W 2-1)
Game 1:I scooped because I again kept a hand I shouldn't of kept and he had a board of Obzedat,Geralfs Messenger,and other creatures that I couldn't keep up with.
Game 2:I won because I got off to a faster start than he did.
Game 3:I kept a hand that was questionable but it worked out. It went back and forth but I ended up winning after attacking with a unleashed Gore-House Chainwalker equiped w/2 Rancor and a Ghor-Clan Rampager.
I ended up getting 20 store credit and just used it to get 6 packs of Gatecrash. Also my buddy Quinn Kennedy (he got 1st at SCG Portland) went 4-1 and we rode in the same car. Overall it was a pretty good night
RRDWR
Modern
BRBurnBR
Honestly, this event was a bit of a blur and I didn't take great notes. Still, I'm going to post what I have here.
The Deck:
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
3 Dreadbore
Lands (23):
15 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Frostburn Weird
2 Pyreheart Wolf
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Searing Spear
1 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Duress
2 Appetite for Brains
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Grafdigger's Cage
In a nutshell, my plan for this list was to play an aggressive game while having a reasonable midrange matchup, leaning on cards such as Dreadbore, Stonewright, and Appetite for Brains to give me some reach against the heavy stuff. Honestly, in playtesting the list had seemed a bit mediocre and I considered an audible into UWR, but I haven't run that in a while and would have needed more testing to get comfortable with it again.
The Matches:
Round 1 vs. RB/w Aggro
This may have actually just been Dos Rakis with Godless Shrines for Reckoner. Not entirely sure if the white did anything besides that.
Anyway, game 1, he wins the die roll and outraces me. As I recall, I sided in Weird, Wolf, Hellkite, and burn while taking out Cacklers and Chainwalkers, and chose to be on the draw in G2. He seemingly stuck with a more aggressive plan, and going bigger paid off for me. I take G2, he chooses the play for G3, same thing happens. Mono-Red Control FTW!
Record: 1-0
Round 2 vs. Gruul Aggro/Midrange
This had things like Burning-Tree Emissary and Domri Rade, but also Wolfir Silverheart. Welp. This deck absolutely stomped me, 0-2. Silverheart is obviously a tough card for this deck to deal with, and not a card we expect to face in the current metagame. I think I did draw Dreadbore at some point in this match, but didn't have the black mana. That happened a few times during the day, for the record.
Record: 1-1
Round 3 vs. ????
I don't remember this matchup at all, honestly. And I didn't take notes on it, either. It was something on the aggressive side, and I won 2-0.
Record: 2-1
Round 4 vs. Human Reanimator
Game 1, I beat him down to 4 life, and he goes off. At one point, I missed 3 Hellrider triggers and a Noble trigger, which would have made my clock a turn faster, potentially changing the whole game. I side into 2x Appetite and the 2x GY hate.
Game 2, he sides into Thragtusks and Huntmasters to beat me. I hit him with an Appetite for Brains, he has 2 Tusk and a Huntmaster. I exile the Huntmaster, thinking it will leave him with no T4 play, and hopefully I can kill him before T6 happens, making the second Tusk irrelevant. I get him down to 4 life, then he goes up to 9, I get him down to 1, he goes up to 6, then back down to 3. And then he drops a Resto Angel on a Tusk. Welp.
Record: 2-2
Round 5 vs. Naya Humans
So, long story, but I'm late to my match and take the tardiness loss for G1. He wins the one game we play. I didn't really tilt or anything like that, though I don't recall much about this match. Pretty sure he just had a good draw and won the race. Normally, I'm not one to drop from an SCG Open at X-3. Tons of people do this and I don't understand it. Payout is to T64 and an X-3 finish is usually good for $50. However, at this point, I want to play the Legacy Challenge, as I desperately need some Legacy experience before playing my first Legacy Open on Sunday. I have a report on that stuff in the Legacy Burn thread, if you're interested.
Final Record: 2-3
I don't think I played my best or worst Magic in this event, and I don't think the deck was the best or worst choice. If I was to play Standard tomorrow, I definitely would not run this list and probably would not run straight red (or R/b) aggro. Midrange seems to be beating aggro right now, and control isn't strong enough to put much of a damper on the midrange. I think there are viable aggressive decks right now, but going heavy-aggro rather than fast-aggro seems necessary for the current metagame.
14 Mountain
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Slayers' Stronghold
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
1 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
3 Lightning Mauler
1 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Boros Charm
4 Searing Spear
1 Boros Charm
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Pillar of Flame
4 Reckless Waif
3 Skullcrack
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Tormod's Crypt
Game 1 vs. BR Zombies. It was the first time I had seen BR Zombies in months, and I don't know if they can do well in the metagame at my FLGS. I got fantastic hands, and my haste + removal outclassed his "comes into play tapped" and "cannot block". 2-0.
Game 2 vs. The Aristocrats. This was a bit more of a fight, because his protection guys (Knight of Infamy, Cartel Aristocrat) are a bit harder to deal with. I was able to outpace him in the third game, though, because he kept a marginal hand and couldn't recover. 2-1.
Game 3 vs. Gruul Aggro. I feel for my opponent, since I don't know if he had any Stomping Grounds. His turns felt like they were always "Play a Gruul Guildgate, play a 2/2 Flinthoof Boar, sigh because I have no Mountains. Pass turn." I ran over him. 2-0.
Game 4 vs. Jund Midrange. Even though we IDed, we played for who would take home the playmat. I tilted in Game 3. It was embarrassing. I had one chance to take out Olivia Voldaren, didn't take it, and then was machinegunned to death. 1-2.
I love my deck. A lot of people at my FLGS have shied away from RDW and variants because if it being "boring". I'm not at that point yet. Boros Reckoners and Boros Charms make this thing disgusting. I'm wondering if I should rely on my white a bit more. Rest in Peace and Blind Obedience could be fun ways of dealing with reanimator and other aggro decks, respectively...
RG Atarka Red GR
Modern:
U Fish U
RGW Burn WGR
UBR Delver RBU
BRGW Loam Pox WGBR
BGR Dredgevine RGB
EDH:
UB Wafer-thin Mints (Grimgrin, Corpse-Born) BU
BR Blunt Instruments (Rakdos, Lord of Riots) RB
UG All Dese (Prime Speaker Zegana) GU
W Schwing! (Nahiri, the Lithomancer) W
GR A.B.C. (Always. Beast. Calling.) (Ruric Thar, Unbowed) RG
UBR Griefer Madness (Nekusar, the Mindrazer) RBU
WUR Oprah Goes to Princess Auto (Zedruu, the Greathearted) RUW
This is the deck I played to a 3-1 finish.
4 Experiment One
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Mogg Flunkies
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Reckless Waif *
4 Searing Spear
8 Mountain
4 Forest
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Naturalize
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Skullcrack
4 Volcanic Strength
R1 - Junk Rites 1-2
Game 3 I had him at 8 with an attacking BTE and Boar out with rampager in hand but he ended up decaying the boar and slipping the BTE, then he won my riting a thragtusk a few times.
R2 - UWR 2-0
Saw nothing from him. Turn 3 and 4 wins.
R3 - Green home brew 2-0
See Round 2.
R4 - Naya Humans 2-0
Held back removal for his creatures and attrutioned him out with my own. Easy win here.
* I didn't have any Stromkirk Nobles until after the event so I had to settle for Waifs. They aren't bad actually. Got the job done today.
(246-174-26)
I played Mono-Red Sligh, better known as RDW, for this event:
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Legion Loyalist
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Hellrider
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
Lands (22)
21 Mountain
1 Hellion Crucible
1 Hellion Crucible
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Pyreheart Wolf
1 Electrickery
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Volcanic Strength
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Zealous Conscripts
Round 1 - Naya Aggro
To start things off, I get paired up against a guy who I know from my LGS. He wins the die roll, and outraces me in G1. His deck is faster than mine, basically a Naya Blitz deck without Flinthoof Boar. G2, I keep a one-lander (something like Stromkirk Noble, Rakdos Cackler, Pillar of Flame, and a couple of two-drops) and miss my first land drop. He plays Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Welp. Turn 3, I hit my land drop, play a Burning-Tree Emissary into Pillar of Flame. Momentum is back on my side, and I win the race (though he probably wins with one more turn).
Game 3, he mulls to 6 on the play, I keep a very solid hand. I lead with Noble, he leads with Thalia. Once again, I Burning-Tree-Pillar his Thalia. I curve right into Reckoner and Hellrider. He has a Frontline Medic, which he follows with Champion of the Parish paired with Lightning Mauler. He proceeds to attack with only Frontline Medic into my Reckoner, which blocks and shoots the Champion, and this pretty much wrecks his whole board position. I win rather easily at this point, and he admits after the fact that he had misplayed. I was at 20 life, so attacking with batallion probably wasn't right either, and I'm not sure he had a realistic chance of winning no matter what his play was. In any case, it's a 2-1 come-from-behind win for me.
Record: 1-0
Round 2 - Zombie Aristocrats
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats, and this was no exception. G1, I curve out, use Pillar of Flame on his Blood Artist, and beat. G2, I get an early Noble going, he gets some dudes and Lingering Souls out. I play Hellrider and put a Volcanic Strength on it. Not too much to say, this match ended pretty quickly, 2-0 with about 35 minutes left on the clock.
Record: 2-0
Round 3 - Jund Zombies
This was more like Golgari Zombies with a red splash, as far as I could tell. He wins the die roll, but I take G1 -- I'm playing an aggressive game while he's sitting back on Blood Artist and Lotleth Troll. G2, he's on the play again and has too much for me to deal with. 2 Gravecrawlers, Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Artist, Geralf's Messenger... I only drew one burn spell, a Pillar which I used on the first Crawler. In hindsight, maybe that's a misplay -- I shouldn't worry too much about the Gravecrawlers, instead saving my Pillars for Artists, Messengers, and not the 2/1 can't block dudes. In any case, being unable to deal with that Nighthawk is probably what really did me in there.
On to Game 3. Pretty back and forth, we both get one-drops, he gets a Blood Artist and a Geralf's Messenger, and on the following turn I play Hellrider. He's forced to start chumping with Blood Artists while I go on the offense with a Hellrider and Reckoner. He plays Appetite for Brains while I'm holding only an Ash Zealot. Apparently he had the Appetite before I played Hellrider but played the Messenger instead. He loses, and laments the fact that he waited too long to play the Appetite. Personally, I don't think you side that in against RDW either way, but I'm not complaining. 2-1 win for me.
Win G1, G3
Record: 3-0
Round 4 - Aristocrats (Brad Jarman)
RDW tends to have a good matchup vs. Aristocrats. However, it's not an auto-win. Sometimes, they get a bunch of Doomed Travelers, Lingering Souls, and Blood Artists followed by Boros Reckoner and/or Falkenrath Aristocrat. He got to go first in Game 1, but the next try went just as badly. I don't think I really had a chance here, he basically nut-drew and played tightly, giving me no real openings. It's an 0-2 loss for me.
I mention Brad Jarman by name, because he went undefeated in Swiss and had the best record going into T8. I played him at a GP before. Nice guy, good player.
Record: 3-1
Round 5 - UWR Flash
Game 1, he mulled to 6 on the play and beat me. Honestly, I don't remember what happened and I didn't take many notes on it. Game 2, he mulls again and is stuck with a one-lander. I keep on the play and start curving out. He misses his land drop and just scoops.
Game 3, he's on the play, I get some early beats, but he puts down a Thundermaw Hellkite and starts to beat down. He casts Sphinx's Revelation for 3. I'm able to cast Burning-Tree Emissary into Hellrider, but he's at 14 life with a Thundermaw out. What am I going to do?
Well, he's also tapped out, and I have a Zealous Conscripts in hand. Play the Conscripts. Take the Thundermaw. Attack with all. Deal more than 14 damage.
My opponent was cool about it, but was kind of dumbfounded. It was the one card that could beat him, and he didn't think I had it.
In any case, another 2-1 match win for me. Sideboards matter!
Record: 4-1
Round 6 - RG Aggro
He mulled both games. I won both games. I didn't take any real notes on this one, but I recall that he wasn't able to do much in either game other than play one-drops and put Rancors on them. I don't think Rancor is particularly good against me, nor is Rakdos Cackler. The two put together, seem particularly useless. I win 2-0, the cards weren't really on his side in this one. Like my last opponent, he was surprisingly cool about it.
Record: 5-1, #3 in standings
Now, because it's 126 people, and 7 rounds of Swiss, the only people who can draw are Brad Jarman (#1) and Brian Braun-Duin (#2), the only two remaining 6-0 players. There are 12 5-1's, all of whom must play. I have the best tiebreakers, but it's moot (for the moment) as I still have a win-and-in. It's against the #4 player, Shaheen Soorani.
Round 7 - Esper Control (Shaheen Soorani)
I win the die roll.
I don't remember what my opening hand was in game 1. I remember that it was good enough that I had no question about keeping it.
Shaheen kept his 7, with some hesitation. I play a mountain and a Noble, and he immediately knows he is in trouble. He seemed shocked that I was playing a red deck. His hand is apparently unplayable against aggro, I see two duals and two Nephalia Drownyards, and not much relevant business. By the second or third turn, he literally says "Mayday! Mayday!" He keeps his sense of humor about the whole thing, but after a few turns it's clear he just doesn't have anything. I beat down with basically no opposition, and we move to Game 2.
From what I remember, I sided out most or all of my burn in this matchup, maybe Legion Loyalist as well. Just tried to bring in threats.
Game 2, he lands a Supreme Verdict and gets a three-for-one, followed by Obzedat, Ghost Council. I can't really answer this. I'm playing from behind the rest of the match and just fizzle out.
Game 3, I start off with Rakdos Cackler, Burning-Tree Emissary into Gore-House Chainwalker. He slows me down with an Azorius Charm on the GHC. I play another GHC, but hold off on replaying the one from the top of my deck, playing around Supreme Verdict. I was right -- he clears my board.
My memory and notes of the middle of the game are a bit fuzzy here, but he got out a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, an Obzedat, Ghost Council, and a Vault of the Archangel. I was able to put out a couple of Hellriders, but he had a ton of ways to gain life, and there was just no real way for me to deal with this.
Or was there?
...
...
Once again, it's Zealous Conscripts to the rescue. He's at 8 life with no answer and has left his Obzedat out to protect against the Hellrider. I take the Obzedat, and he has no answers.
Shaheen offers the handshake, and I've made my first PTQ top 8.
He's cool about the whole thing, we wish each other luck, but he's obviously kicking himself about not mulling that first game, saying it's a weakness of his. But, as he points out, nobody likes to mulligan. The hand might have been fine in another matchup, and sometimes you have to take a chance when you're going in blind.
Record: 6-1, #4 in standings (Yes, I won my match and went down in the standings. That's how breakers work sometimes.)
Quarterfinals - RG Savagery (Tommy Ashton)
Now, my tiebreakers are finally relevant! I get to take advantage of the play-draw rule, and obviously choose to go first. The dramatic Top 8 begins!
...
Aaaaaand... the dramatic Top 8 ends rather quickly. This is an awful, awful matchup for me, and I just can't deal with him in G1. G2, I side in all 15 sideboard cards, taking out the Legion Loyalists and many of my two-drops. It doesn't really help, and I lose pretty quickly. I think it was about 10 minutes. And... like some of my previous opponents, I'm fairly cool about it. Disappointed? Yeah. It's a bit anti-climactic. But I can't be too upset. Making top 8 of a sizable event was a fairly big step for me, I got a cool playmat, a box of GTC which I traded for singles, and I had a ton of fun.
I officially finished 7th in the standings.
Epilogue
Tommy Ashton went on to face Brian Braun-Duin (Junk Reanimator) in the finals. Their match seemed to take forever, with BBD getting a Trostani out at one point with tons of tokens. It was very intense. However, we were out at the front of the store, and could hear the mall's "muzak" in the background -- this often broke up the seriousness as it provided a completely inappropriate soundtrack for the Dramatic Showdown going on. After what seemed like an eternity, BBD was able to get rid of a Ground Seal and start using his Unburial Rites, winning the Pro Tour invite.
Takeaways
- As you might imagine, I was happy with the deck. Only truly awful matchup was the heavy RG aggro. That's a really tough one, but it's not a huge part of the metagame (yet).
- Legion Loyalist and Hellion Crucible both sucked. I never once activated the Crucible, and the colorless mana was a detriment on occasion. I will not run Crucible in the future, even if that means going all-Mountain, and I will run Stonewright over Loyalist in my next tournament.
- I was happy with Boros Reckoner being in the SB rather than maindeck. Against aggro he's great, but in general I want my more aggressive card in for G1. He also doesn't work so well with BTE.
- BTE was pretty good in the main. Post-board he's sometimes not as good, but with all of the two-drops I had in here, it worked nicely.
- Pyreheart Wolf didn't come in much. I don't think he's where I want to be. Might go with Hound of Griselbrand in this slot, or something else entirely. To be fair, he's best against midrange, and I didn't face much of that.
- More burn might be worth considering.
- I'll probably make a few tweaks, as mentioned above, and run a very similar list at the WMCQ and PTQ this weekend.
Hey!
I was the Gruul deck you played against in the 6th round and my luck just got worse after i faced you and ended up in 35th.
CONGRATS on your win man, it was my first PTQ so im really not that salty about losing. Its great to hear a fellow red aggro made it to top 8 and also makes me feel better about losing to ya. Keep it up!
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
8 Plains
6 Mountain
1 Slayers' Stronghold
Creatures
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Boros Elite
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Lightning Mauler
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Boros Reckoner
43 Frontline Medic
4 Hellrider
4 Searing Spear
4 Boros Charm
1 Nearheath Pilgrim
3 Volcanic Strength
3 Skullcrack
3 Precinct Captain
1 Boros Reckoner
3 Rest in Peace
1 Legion's Initiative
really the only noticeable changes were -3 daring skyjack +3 nearheath pilgrim. aggro has been getting pretty hot at this store so i needed to be ready for the mirror matchup. the host decided to go 5 rounds, so ill describe them as best as i can remember.
round 1: rackdos midrange
this was not a terrible deck, but not a bad one either. game one we traded some blows but he couldnt stop the multitude of creatures. i remember getting t1 elite into t2 mauler into t3 medic hasted, nothing special after that but he couldnt handle 8 indestructable coming at him every turn
game two i kept a decent hand but drew into a mana flood. thalia saved my butt from the 1 hit KO combo he was try to run (a card that made me lose half my life every turn plus a curse that dealt double damage whenever i lost life) eventually i managed to use slayers stronghold with thalia's first strike to break down his blockers.
1-0
round 2: jund midrange
game one was crazy, by crazy i mean t1 champion of the parish, t2 thalia, t3 mauler and elite bonded swing for eleven. he scooped at the end of his next turn.
game two a got a hellrider bonded with a nearheath pilgrim, an interesting combination because hellriders direct damage from his affect also triggers lifelink. he was starting to fight back, but i bluffed him into taking 1 point of dasmage when he was at 5 life and then finished him with a boros charm he didnt know i had.
2-0
round 3:boros aggro
this was my mirror matchup, some pretty crazy games. game one i kept a 6 mana 1 reckoner hand and drew into all my middle turn damaging creatures, while he kept a good small hand and then got flooded.
game 2 he pinged me to the edge while i waited on mana, but then he got stuck on 3 mana with 2 warleader helix's in his hand. i finally drew the mana i needed to play hellrider, bonded it was nearheath, and equipped it with volcanic strength. he scooped soon after.
3-0
round 4: bant lifegain.
this was the frustrating round. game one i ramped out before she got going, but g2 and 3 she used centuar healer to keep her around long enough to get thrag and start blinking it. i helplessly watched her stabilize and flip the game around.
3-1
round 5: G/B aggro
we decided to play because the matchup didnt guarantee 3-1-1 to make top 8. two perfect ramps and that was all she wrote. first tournament bigger then fnm, first top 8
4-1
so the standing come out, because of tiebreakers (4 of the 5 people i played made top 8) i got 2nd. the g/b aggro i just beat got 7th, so its a rematch
quarterfinals:
game one looked just like last round, and it looked like it would be an easy win. game 2 a kept a hand that looked good only to realize i had all red cards with 2 plains and a slayers' stronghold. by the time i stabilized her predator ooze was to big. game 3 i mulled down to five but couldnt afford to go lower. i should have. in 8 turns i got a total of 2 lands, the second not till t7. she chipped away and away i went.
so i walk out with 1/4 a box, only to learn later the top 4 split the 6 boxes... so to games of terrible luck lost me 5/4 of a box. not taking anything away from my opponent, she ran a cool and powerful deck, but mine was definitely a little faster. hers wasnt as prepared for the mirror matchup. so here i sit wondering how to improve my deck and trying to accept theres nothing i can do to make up for bad luck. i guess i just need to read some articles on proper mulliganing... if thats a word.
one question i have is if theres any godly way to beat a resto/thrag combo... if so i cant find it. skullcrack helps but she just smiled and flashed it next run... any ideas would be appreciated. my only idea is to take it and kill it so i get the token...
Match 1 vs Jund Aristocrats
We both mull to 5; I keep a loose hand that should put on some pressure but his grip of 2x land 3x Pillar of Flame manage to control the game long enough for him to do his thing. Game two I swing him down to about 7 before he Thragtusks and Lingering souls his way to 12. I rip a Blasphemous Act to go with the Reckoner. Game 3 involves my never drawing a second land off of a mull to 5. Yeah. 0-1 (1-2)
Match 2 vs (also) Junk Aristocrats (Chris Vanmeter)
Game one he stabilizes relatively early after a really loose keep of a six on my part and wins off that. Game two I win a very long and fought-out battle that (also) involved Blasphemous Act, and game three involved him never drawing a third land.
Match 3 vs Junk Reanimator/Ramp thingy
Kill. Me. Now. Game one he casts a turn three Tusk, flashes it, reanimates it twice, etc. etc. Game two he has a really loose keep, I Electrickery his mana dorks, and go T4 T5 T6 Hellriders ftw. Game three was one of the toughest games of Magic I ever played, getting him to one life several times, but he always had another Tusk or another Rites. I didn't expect to see this deck... I was playing control back when Tusk was $25, but now I see how the aggro players felt playing against it.
My buddy went 5-2 with mono-black featuring Mutilate and Wight of Precinct Six, which got him $50. I cubed.
CONCLUSIONS: Blasphemous Act is excellent, but if your meta is Thragtusk and red Aristocrats, might not be a good deck choice anyway.
Sig by Ace of Spades studio at http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=451747
I'm a child playing an adult's card game.
Esper CONTROL: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=10441008&postcount=239
I'm a Rules Advisor. Woo-hoo.
Gamer's Armory in Raleigh, NC. Best bad store ever.
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Hellrider
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
Enchantments
3 Madcap Skills
Land
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
1 Temple Garden
11 Mountain
4 Burning Earth
3 Volcanic Strength
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Skullcrack
1 Domri Rade
1 Ash Zealot
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Flames of the Firebrand
I apologize for not facing any top tier decks- I went down to an FNM I hadn't gone to in a while and everyone was playing his/her own brew for some reason- not to mention there were a bunch of new people.
Round 1: Mono Red Young Pyromancer (I think)
Game 1: I mull to 6 and see a Crag, Cackler, Scooze, and some other stuff I don't remember. The other guy, who was a new kid at the store, led off with a mountain and I put down the Crag tapped. I didn't see another land for a while, but it was okay because the kid just played a few Krenko's Command and kept chump blocking my Cackler. I ended up drawing a BTE and finally a land and starting throwing down my dudes. He kept burning them for some reason (he must've had at least 12 damage worth of burn he chucked at my non-threatening guys) and in the end my creatures beat his tokens.
Game 2: I had a 1 land hand, but I had several Cacklers. He got mana screwed and it was short.
Round 2: Orzhov Combo/Extort
Game 1: The guy had the Exquisite Blood Sanguine Bond combo and bunch of extorters. I didn't know though. First game he ran out high priest of penance and I slapped down Madcap Skills on a Cackler. I follow it up with a second madcap skills and started going to town. He finally landed a Vizkopa Guildmage to block and I pillared it for game.
Game 2: He double duressed me, removing a pillar and madcap skills. I had reckoner and a bunch of stuff and beat on him pretty hard. He finally landed a Pontiff of Blight to block and Merciless Evictioned to clear the board. He was at 3 life. I had a Hellrider in hand.
Round 3: A Rakdos Control deck I built for my friend
Game 1: My friend is a huge fan of Tibalt so I built him a Rakdos Control deck similar to the Tibbles and Bits deck from last Standard. It poops on aggro and has a decent game against control as well. At any rate, he was on a roll today- he had the "aura," so to speak. He drew the absolute nuts and wrecked me.
Game 2: He drew the nuts but I got him to 1 and topdecked a Searing Spear before he started gaining life from Homicidal Seclusion.
Game 3: Again, he drew the nuts for the 3rd time and had an answer to everything I played, including drawing Doom Blade 3 times in a row for my Reckoners. I got him to 4 and had a Searing Spear in hand but he had Homicidal Seclusion out and kept top decking creatures and Mutavault. Every time he topdecked a creature, I killed it and the next turn I would hit another spear. It was incredibly frustrating and eventually he got the Chandra's Phoenix he needed to seal the deal with lifegain. I could have won, but I misplayed and killed the Mutavault even though it had summoning sickness- I would've topdecked the final burn spell the next turn.
Round 4: Boros Aggro
Game 1: The guy didn't have a lot of plays aside from a Champion of the Parish turn 2 and a Hellrider turn 4. I had no clue what was in his hand but I drew pretty well and ran him over turn 5 with my own Hellrider.
Game 2: The guy didn't hit the second red he needed for his Hellrider. But even if he did, I had total board control and ran him through.
Round 5: Dega Control Thing
Game 1: Even though I got paired down, I was really happy to play this guy since he was a friend I hadn't seen for a really long time. He seemed fairly new to the game and he was borrowing cards from his brother who frequents the store (I had no clue they were brothers). I ran him through.
Game 2: He got badly mana-screwed and I ran him through.
I finished 4-1 and 5th place (no Cackler promo!)
All in all, I think the deck performed admirably and I learned that it punishes any sort of brew xD. It's a crazy efficient tournament deck and it does what it does.
Heres the Deck list, Side boarding/mulligan tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Firefist Striker
2 Lightning Mauler
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Hellrider
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
Land:20
11 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
1 Forest (Had no temple gardens)
3 Domri Rade
3 Burning Earth
2 Traitorous Blood
2 Skullcrack
4 Volcanic Strength
1 Blasphemous Act
Standard //Modern
WU Control
RG Aggro
RU Splinter Twin