3-0 this week for my first FNM win. Will post the list later when I have a bit more time.
Round 1: Death's Shadow Jund 2-0. Game 1 I never saw a lantern or mill rock, but used Brutality to strip his Kolaghan's command, then got bridge and welding jar down, along with Aether Grid. He was low enough off his own doing that I was able to kill with grid, regenning bridge as neccesary and recurring the jar if needed. Game 2 was closer, but I was able to establish a top lock and when he Traversed for Kataki, he misplayed and played kataki before maelstrom pulsing my lanterns (so glad I took his surgical extraction the turn before), so I was able to use my lanterns and aether grid to kill Kataki. I got very lucky this round that he was misplaying quite a bit.
Round 2: BW tokens, 2-0. Landed turn 2 bridge game 1, OP had no mainboard answers to a resolved bridge and scooped. Game 2, he mulled to 6, instead of scry accidentally revealed the Tidehollow sculler on top. He misplayed and put it to the bottom instead of scrying to the top. This allowed me to establish top lock turns 1 and 2, resolving bridge for the concession turn 3.
Round 3: Eldrazi Tron, 2-0. Got very lucky he didn't have it complete. Turn 2 ghost quarter surgical on tower both games, showed me no Karn or Chalice. From there it was land bridge and mana denial. Game 2 was close but he got greedy and went for damage first and dropped reality smasher to get in before bridge lands. I played land bridge next turn and he revealed the thought knot he thought about playing and offered the handshake.
Finally caved and took the Tezzeret out of my list. Put in a Noxious revival instead and am loving it so far. Picked up 3 Brutalities tuesday night, so they'll be replacing spellskites and pyrite spellbomb in the list. I'm leaving Aether grid in the main though, it's come in clutch far too often for me, and I don't like having the mill plan be the only win con game 1.
I think quitting the game over a bad booster box is a bit of an overreaction mate. I mean, that's like being pissed off when you put $200 into a slot machine and it only spits out $100. Everyone knows that packs are a gamble, and you probably won't get a return equal or greater than your input. You knew what you were signing up for when you ordered it. My box wasn't much better, but I'll take what I can get. A little more trade fodder for the binder. If you're just in it for the trade value just buy singles next time?
Standard is pretty slow in my area as well. Most shops are only pulling 10 or so for Standard FNMs. The shop I started playing at doesn't fire half the time anymore. I personally despise the current standard, it's extremely boring IMO, so I stick with modern, which easily pulls 20+ each, almost all different players, at the 3 different shops I play at throughout the week.
3 fetches (Mesa, Catacombs, and Flats) were the main notables. Only one Path, 2 IoK (1 foil). My mythics were Entreat, Olivia, and Temporal Mastery. Foil rare was Primal Command.
I am going to a small tourney tomorrow. Probably 30-40 players. I haven't played the deck in probably 2-3 months. I run a Jund build because I don't have Baubles and I like to have Grid as a win con, Pyrite comes second but it's currently out of the deck. The meta is probably Tron,Eldrazi, Jund and Abzan. Do I play Lantern or Ponza?
Depending on each decks share of the meta I'd be running Ponza on that one. Tron and Jund are bad matchups for lantern but most of those fold easily to land destruction and a fast clock.
Round 1: 900 people and I get paired up against my brother who's on Naya burn (he finished 5-4). Game 1 was close, but I couldn't land bridge before his Guide got me within boros charm range. Game 2, kept a solid starting 7 with 2 lands, never saw land number 3, died with a leyline and 3 bridges in hand.
Round 2: Eldrazi Taxes (2-0). Got the lock in very quickly game 1, and ended up killing with a Tezz ult. Game 2 I manage to dodge the Stony Silence. Locked the board down with a late brige at 5 life, followed by a Torpor Orb that saved my rear with his next turn Flickerwisp. Found Aether Grid and slowly but surely delivered the kill.
Round 3: Skred (0-2) Dodged blood moon but died very quickly to Chandra + Stormbreath Dragon. Game 2, turn 1 needle on chandra and a turn 2 Bridge kept me safe until I couldn't find a second needle for Koth and died to Mountain activations.
Round 4: Jund (0-2). I just couldn't get anything going in this matchup, solid starting hands followed by land floods.
Round 5: Scapeshift (1-2) Game 1 ended quickly on turn 3 bridge followed by ghost quartering their only Valakut + Surgical. Game 2 I mulled to 4, kept a no lander with Leyline and Bridge, scryed a GQ to the top. Never saw more lands and died to Prime time beats. Game 3 I had the bridge lock and a turn later the top lock, but his 1 draw that I didn't see was scapeshift, which I died to.
Round 6: Grixis Control (0-2) This guy was a bit of a prick, as he was super salty about having just lost to Battle of Wits. Lost game 1 to a misplay on my part, as he Thought Scoured me with a Bridge on top and I didn't realize I could have popped my LAntern to save the bridge until about 30 seconds later. Game 2, I milled and surgicaled Kolaghan's command, but then he mana leaked and surgicaled my bridges.
Round 7: Bye. Yes, I sucked so bad that of 600 people I got the bye.
Round 8: Grixis Delver (2-1) Locked game 1 down very quickly as he was only running 2 K. Commands and I got rid of them very quickly, as well as keeping him off Cryptic mana. Won with Tezz. Games 2 and 3 he finds away to Surgical my bridges and I die to beats.
Round 9: Mono white Eldrazi Taxes (2-1) This was a pretty bad build. Game 1 was very winnable on my end, but I missed an Inventor's Fair trigger which left me at exactly enough life for him to swing in under bridge for the win. Game 2 I got the lock in hard and won with Tezz. Game 3 took forever. I got early Lantern + mill rock + bridge only for him to have a turn 3 Stony. While I hoped and prayed for an abrupt decay, he found a second stony, then a Chalice on 1. However, he missed like 6 chalice triggers as I was casting my 1 drops into it to keep his Blade Splicer at bay, and my 2 ancient stirrings let me dig away an extra 10 cards to find Aether Grid and end the game.
Overall it was a pretty disappointing main event. I did well in my legacy Side on sunday, but the main event with my Lantern brew did not go well. I'm going to be adjusting it more toward what Thinkr has going and see how that runs for my FNMs.
3-6 at the open this weekend. Lots of weird draws and just unlucky matchups. I'll write up a better report during my lunch break.
I'm definitely going to be moving over toward something more similar to Thinkr's list. I met another Lantern player at the event using Thinkr's list and he did very well. Luckily I can sell my Tezzeret to pay for most of what I'm missing. I know for the sideboard I'm missing Crucible and a Leyline, so until I can get those I'll likely keep Magus and Torpor orb in the sideboard, Torpor orb is just super good in my meta, and was basically single handedly responsible for both of my wins saturday (win 3 was the bye. Yes, I sucked so bad that of 600 people I got the bye.).
Playing the SCG Open tomorrow. Got one flax spot open in my Main. Third copy of Surgical or third copy of Needle? I'm expecting Tron to be popular so both are a good option.
2-2 last night as well, almost an exact replica of monday but with different matchups.
Round 1, Eldrazi Tron 0-2. Game 1 was a blow out, but game 2 was much closer. In the end I had to cast lantern into Chalice on 1 to keep my hand empty and never saw another after I Aburpt Decayed the chalice. He found Ulamog and it was all over after that.
Round 2, Grixis Delver 0-2. Turn 2 Tasigur both games. Game 2 I established a pretty hard lock on his draws and had bridge down but he was able to cryptic bounce bridge swing, then next turn Snappy Cryptic Bounce bridge.
Round 3: no idea what this guy was on, he knew I was on lantern and conceded the round before we even rolled dice.
Round 4: BW Eldrazi 2-0. Landed bridge early game 1, milled his Anguished Unmaking and he had no other answers. Game 2 saw all 4 bridges, milled both stony silences and used lost legacy on anguished unmaking to draw the concession.
Jamming all the modern I can this week in preparation for the Open saturday. Just a couple rounds of testing against affinity last night, but played a tourney monday and playing a win a box tournament tonight.
Monday: 2-2.
Round 1: Jeskai Saheeli, 0-2. Got the lantern lock and bridge out, but couldn't find a needle for their Saheeli an eventually just died to pings and the 3 Helixes he got off Ancestral Visions draws. Game 2 a negate on my Needle, then remand my bridge, then snap negate on bridge. Died to Snappy and Saheeli.
Round 2: Burn 0-2. Came close in game 1, landing bridge and emptying the hand, but came 1 mil rock too short to stop the burn spells. Game 2 had a solid starting 7, considered mulling for leyline but didn't. Found the lelyines but too few lands to play them and got burnt out.
Round 3: Bye
Round 4: Bogles 2-0. Took game 1 easily after dropping double bridge. Game 2 got bridge down easy, keeping Golgari Charm in hand just in case of a stony silence. Had one big fight over the seal of primodirum on top of his deck that I won. He never saw any more of his sideboard stuff. Quite a bit of sodium off that guy.
I'm liking Magus of the Tabernacle less and less in the main. Moved it to the side and brought in copy 3 of Surgical to the mainboard. Considered the third Pithing needle instead but Surgical is more often a live card, and it's "free" to cast as well, making emptying the hand much easier.
Nope, it "chooses". Wording on cards is very important, it's the same as Stuffy Doll. Choose and Target are 2 different things. That's why I run Stuff Doll in my Free Win Red deck sideboard to get around Leyline
So what is our plan for 8 Rack? Game 1 just kinda sucks, after that we have Leyline to stop targetted discard. Then we just have to hope we find needles for Mutavault and Lilly? Since both of the Rack effects don't target and get around Leyline, we are in a bad spot there if we do empty our hand.
Round 1: Death's Shadow Jund 2-0. Game 1 I never saw a lantern or mill rock, but used Brutality to strip his Kolaghan's command, then got bridge and welding jar down, along with Aether Grid. He was low enough off his own doing that I was able to kill with grid, regenning bridge as neccesary and recurring the jar if needed. Game 2 was closer, but I was able to establish a top lock and when he Traversed for Kataki, he misplayed and played kataki before maelstrom pulsing my lanterns (so glad I took his surgical extraction the turn before), so I was able to use my lanterns and aether grid to kill Kataki. I got very lucky this round that he was misplaying quite a bit.
Round 2: BW tokens, 2-0. Landed turn 2 bridge game 1, OP had no mainboard answers to a resolved bridge and scooped. Game 2, he mulled to 6, instead of scry accidentally revealed the Tidehollow sculler on top. He misplayed and put it to the bottom instead of scrying to the top. This allowed me to establish top lock turns 1 and 2, resolving bridge for the concession turn 3.
Round 3: Eldrazi Tron, 2-0. Got very lucky he didn't have it complete. Turn 2 ghost quarter surgical on tower both games, showed me no Karn or Chalice. From there it was land bridge and mana denial. Game 2 was close but he got greedy and went for damage first and dropped reality smasher to get in before bridge lands. I played land bridge next turn and he revealed the thought knot he thought about playing and offered the handshake.
Depending on each decks share of the meta I'd be running Ponza on that one. Tron and Jund are bad matchups for lantern but most of those fold easily to land destruction and a fast clock.
Lands:
4 Glimmervoid
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Spire of Industry
3 Blooming Marsh
1 Llanowar Wastes
2 Academy Ruins
1 Inventor's Fair
2 Ghost Quarter
Artifacts:
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Codex Shredder
3 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Mox Opal
3 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Welding Jar
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Infernal Tutor
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instant:
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Surgical Extraction
Creature:
2 Spellskite
Other:
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Pyroclasm
2 Thoughtseize
1 Lost Legacy
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Golgari Cahrm
1 Nature's Claim
1 Torpor Orb
1 Magus of the Tabernacle
1 Surgical Extraction
Round 1: 900 people and I get paired up against my brother who's on Naya burn (he finished 5-4). Game 1 was close, but I couldn't land bridge before his Guide got me within boros charm range. Game 2, kept a solid starting 7 with 2 lands, never saw land number 3, died with a leyline and 3 bridges in hand.
Round 2: Eldrazi Taxes (2-0). Got the lock in very quickly game 1, and ended up killing with a Tezz ult. Game 2 I manage to dodge the Stony Silence. Locked the board down with a late brige at 5 life, followed by a Torpor Orb that saved my rear with his next turn Flickerwisp. Found Aether Grid and slowly but surely delivered the kill.
Round 3: Skred (0-2) Dodged blood moon but died very quickly to Chandra + Stormbreath Dragon. Game 2, turn 1 needle on chandra and a turn 2 Bridge kept me safe until I couldn't find a second needle for Koth and died to Mountain activations.
Round 4: Jund (0-2). I just couldn't get anything going in this matchup, solid starting hands followed by land floods.
Round 5: Scapeshift (1-2) Game 1 ended quickly on turn 3 bridge followed by ghost quartering their only Valakut + Surgical. Game 2 I mulled to 4, kept a no lander with Leyline and Bridge, scryed a GQ to the top. Never saw more lands and died to Prime time beats. Game 3 I had the bridge lock and a turn later the top lock, but his 1 draw that I didn't see was scapeshift, which I died to.
Round 6: Grixis Control (0-2) This guy was a bit of a prick, as he was super salty about having just lost to Battle of Wits. Lost game 1 to a misplay on my part, as he Thought Scoured me with a Bridge on top and I didn't realize I could have popped my LAntern to save the bridge until about 30 seconds later. Game 2, I milled and surgicaled Kolaghan's command, but then he mana leaked and surgicaled my bridges.
Round 7: Bye. Yes, I sucked so bad that of 600 people I got the bye.
Round 8: Grixis Delver (2-1) Locked game 1 down very quickly as he was only running 2 K. Commands and I got rid of them very quickly, as well as keeping him off Cryptic mana. Won with Tezz. Games 2 and 3 he finds away to Surgical my bridges and I die to beats.
Round 9: Mono white Eldrazi Taxes (2-1) This was a pretty bad build. Game 1 was very winnable on my end, but I missed an Inventor's Fair trigger which left me at exactly enough life for him to swing in under bridge for the win. Game 2 I got the lock in hard and won with Tezz. Game 3 took forever. I got early Lantern + mill rock + bridge only for him to have a turn 3 Stony. While I hoped and prayed for an abrupt decay, he found a second stony, then a Chalice on 1. However, he missed like 6 chalice triggers as I was casting my 1 drops into it to keep his Blade Splicer at bay, and my 2 ancient stirrings let me dig away an extra 10 cards to find Aether Grid and end the game.
Overall it was a pretty disappointing main event. I did well in my legacy Side on sunday, but the main event with my Lantern brew did not go well. I'm going to be adjusting it more toward what Thinkr has going and see how that runs for my FNMs.
I'm definitely going to be moving over toward something more similar to Thinkr's list. I met another Lantern player at the event using Thinkr's list and he did very well. Luckily I can sell my Tezzeret to pay for most of what I'm missing. I know for the sideboard I'm missing Crucible and a Leyline, so until I can get those I'll likely keep Magus and Torpor orb in the sideboard, Torpor orb is just super good in my meta, and was basically single handedly responsible for both of my wins saturday (win 3 was the bye. Yes, I sucked so bad that of 600 people I got the bye.).
Round 1, Eldrazi Tron 0-2. Game 1 was a blow out, but game 2 was much closer. In the end I had to cast lantern into Chalice on 1 to keep my hand empty and never saw another after I Aburpt Decayed the chalice. He found Ulamog and it was all over after that.
Round 2, Grixis Delver 0-2. Turn 2 Tasigur both games. Game 2 I established a pretty hard lock on his draws and had bridge down but he was able to cryptic bounce bridge swing, then next turn Snappy Cryptic Bounce bridge.
Round 3: no idea what this guy was on, he knew I was on lantern and conceded the round before we even rolled dice.
Round 4: BW Eldrazi 2-0. Landed bridge early game 1, milled his Anguished Unmaking and he had no other answers. Game 2 saw all 4 bridges, milled both stony silences and used lost legacy on anguished unmaking to draw the concession.
Monday: 2-2.
Round 1: Jeskai Saheeli, 0-2. Got the lantern lock and bridge out, but couldn't find a needle for their Saheeli an eventually just died to pings and the 3 Helixes he got off Ancestral Visions draws. Game 2 a negate on my Needle, then remand my bridge, then snap negate on bridge. Died to Snappy and Saheeli.
Round 2: Burn 0-2. Came close in game 1, landing bridge and emptying the hand, but came 1 mil rock too short to stop the burn spells. Game 2 had a solid starting 7, considered mulling for leyline but didn't. Found the lelyines but too few lands to play them and got burnt out.
Round 3: Bye
Round 4: Bogles 2-0. Took game 1 easily after dropping double bridge. Game 2 got bridge down easy, keeping Golgari Charm in hand just in case of a stony silence. Had one big fight over the seal of primodirum on top of his deck that I won. He never saw any more of his sideboard stuff. Quite a bit of sodium off that guy.
I'm liking Magus of the Tabernacle less and less in the main. Moved it to the side and brought in copy 3 of Surgical to the mainboard. Considered the third Pithing needle instead but Surgical is more often a live card, and it's "free" to cast as well, making emptying the hand much easier.
Nope, it "chooses". Wording on cards is very important, it's the same as Stuffy Doll. Choose and Target are 2 different things. That's why I run Stuff Doll in my Free Win Red deck sideboard to get around Leyline