I saw a Zombie Infestation deck posted online a while back that looked like it might be fun. It ran 3 Infestation, 4 Treasure Hunt, 3 Noxious Revival, 1 Eldrazi and a bunch of random lands (a lot of them were the non-basic commons from Worldwake).
It was a 60-card deck though. I feel like it might be worthwhile to take it up to maybe 75 or 80.
Alright, got my 3rd Venser in the mail today and Standard night #2 is in the books. The deck I posted a few posts above was what I went with, except for these changes:
- I realized I had cut my counters down from 6 to 5, so I went down to 3x Sea Gate Oracle in favor of a 2nd Turn Aside.
- I reneged on cutting Gideon from the deck, although I decided that I still wanted to run an Elspeth so I took out one Island to go to 25 lands.
- Instead of 2 Seachrome Coast and 4 Glacial Fortress, I went with 3 Fortress and 3 Celestial Colonnade.
Here are the results.
Round 1 vs. Caw-Blade
Game 1 - I've never played this guy before, but I've watched a few of his games and I knew going in that the Caw-Blade decks he likes to run differ from the norm in some of the card choices. He had board advantage until I got Venser out with Stonehorn Dignitary on the board, keeping him off attacking for a few turns. He tried to O-Ring Stonehorn, which I countered. However, a turn or two later he completely caught me off guard when he cast his own Venser (???), killing mine. He won after that.
Game 2 - I was dead from the get-go. Had to mulligan to 5 on the play and kept a 4-land hand with Ponder. I pretty much knew I was screwed when Ponder led to a shuffle, and I drew nothing but crap afterward (including Blightsteel).
Result: 0-2 loss
Round 2 vs. Jund Pod
Game 1 - This is a bad, bad, bad matchup. Was behind the entire time, even with casting 2 DoJ. Was on the ropes and got Blightsteel out. Next turn he Pods Grave Titan into Sheoldred. Screwed. As a side note, this game reinforced my belief that tapping out in the mid-game with this deck is a bad idea. I went all in to get out a Consecrated Sphinx on turn 6 or 7 and he seized that opportunity.
Game 2 - This is still a bad, bad, bad matchup even after boarding. I put up a fight but again played from behind pretty much the entire game.
Result: 0-2 loss
Round 3 Bye
Looking back, I'm really glad I got the bye in the third round, not just for the three points, but because I was pretty much on tilt after getting reamed by the Jund Pod player. That break allowed me to grab a Sprite and settle down and scout some of the other decks.
Round 4 vs. Mono Green ramp
Sidenote: This was the same guy who destroyed me in the last round last week, playing the same deck. This time revenge was mine!
Game 1 - I used the Shape Anew combo on turn 6 or 7 with a few small guys on the board, but he had two Dungrove Elders, a Thrun and a Primeval Titan of his own so victory was no sure thing. Luckily for me, I top-decked Gideon and he conceded.
Game 2 - Best opening hand of the night by far, especially against a deck with no counterspells. Venser, Stonehorn, Blade Splicer, Negate and three lands. Went back and forth for a few turns of him attacking with one relatively unthreatening Dungrove Elder until the Stonehorn-Venser combo got on the board. There was no point in popping Venser's ultimate since almost all of his damn creatures were hexproof, so just kept bouncing Stonehorn over and over again. He tried to Dismember him and Beast Within Venser, but I had counters for both. I eventually used Shape Anew and won.
Result: 2-0 win
Round 5 vs. Mono Black
Game 1 - Mulligan to five on the draw and never really could get going. He used removal to get rid of a couple creatures, and he ended up on turn 7 or 8 with a Phyrexian Obliterator equipped with both Sword of Feast and Famine AND Lashwrithe (give me a break). Needless to say I was toast.
Game 2 - I got *really* lucky here. Opening hand saw 2 DoJ, Blade Splicer, Sea Gate Oracle and three lands. He cast Duress on turn 1 (which is a mistake in my book, but hey what do I know) and took out one of the DoJ, then Extracted the others. I drew Shape Anew on my second turn. I used it a couple turns later on an Inkmoth Nexus and he conceded. I highly doubt I would have won the game if he had cast Duress on turn 2 instead of turn 1.
Game 3 - This game was intense. He was stuck on 3 lands for a while. I had an Oracle, two Golem tokens (he killed the Splicers) and a Colonnade on the board. He was at 12 life, I was still at 20. I'd had enough lands to activate the Colonnade for a turn or two, but had used the mana to cast things. He finally draws a 4th Swamp and plays an Obliterator. Obviously this halts my ground assault, but I activate the Colonnade and swing for 4 in the air. His next turn, he casts a second Obliterator and swings with the first. I take the 5 to go to 15. My next turn I swing with Colonnade again to put him at 4. Next turn he casts Memoricide to get rid of my Shape Anews, then swings with one Obliterator. I again let it through to go to 10. He still has two open mana and deep down I strongly suspect he's going to Doom Blade my Colonnade when I activate it, and I have no counter in hand. But I feel like I have to attempt the kill here or I may be in trouble. Sure enough, he brings it out and I lose my 4/4 flyer.
Now we're at a stalemate for a few turns. He's got two Obliterators. I'm at 10 life, he's at 4. If he swings with both, I'm going to let one through and block the other with Sea Gate Oracle, take 7 damage, sacrifice a land and swing for the kill with the tokens on my next turn. At one point he goes for Lashwrithe, which I Negate. I cast a couple cantrips trying to get the win. That fails, but I do manage to come up with a Stonehorn which is useful as it guarantees he can't swing with both Obliterators then cast a blocker to thwart me. Then comes the decisive turn. He casts a third Obliterator, to which I slump back in my chair in disgust. He passes the turn to me, I reveal my hand of a land and a Turn Aside, and make a half-hearted grab at the card on top of my library, which happens to be....
....Venser!!
Result: 2-1 win
Conclusions:
Ended up with 9 points and broke into the Top 8, finishing 7th off tie-breakers.
Liking the deck more and more.
The good: 1) Cutting black was a step forward. 2) Adding a third Venser and swapping in the Colonnades were big ones as well. 3) See Beyond was an All-Star... there were at least two times I was able to use it to shuffle Blightsteel out of my hand. And running 4 of them makes a starting hand with him in it no longer an automatic mulligan when the other 6 cards look good.
The not-so-good: 1) I'm still VERY much unsure what I think about Gideon vs. Elspeth... either, both, which? Ugh. 2) I know that earlier in this thread I told another poster that 9 counters seemed like overkill, but now I'm not so sure that 6 is enough. More often than not tonight, when I really needed one in hand, I didn't have one. I'm thinking I might try to find a way to go to 2 Mana Leak/2 Dispel/4 Negate. 3) I'm also still not very satisfied with the sideboard.
This deck is based around a mistaken assumption. Each Oracle of Mul Daya in play only lets you play one extra land per turn. You don't get to continuously pump out lands as long as they're on top of your library.
nobody has love for see beyond to shuffle back the colossus?
Actually, yes! I was just thinking about that card earlier today after playing MTGO and having my lunch eaten by a Pyromancer Ascension deck that provided limitless card advantage through Preordains, Ponders and See Beyond.
I think this is going to be the version I take to Standard night, provided my 3rd Venser comes in the mail tomorrow (if not then this will wait until next week).
Conclusions: the deck is very fun to play but will completely crumple in the face of an aggro deck with a decent draw. It may also be the meta at my store but every opponent sided in at least 8 cards one guy sided in 12 cards and all of them were artifact hate/act of aggression. Still I really had fun with the deck and I'll be looking at possible changes in the future, possibly the addition of Stonehorn Dignitary maybe a couple Gideon as well if I can bring myself to spend the money on him.
I realized quickly that when playing this deck (or at least my version), you pretty much ALWAYS have to keep mana up for counters after the first few turns. Once I get to 5 lands or so, I'm not tapping out unless I'm dropping a Planeswalker, or maybe Stonehorn Dignitary depending on the situation.
Another thing I was considering was switching to 2 Mana Leak and 4 Negate. For the most part of the night for me, creatures weren't the biggest obstacles I faced. Oblivion Ring/Journey to Nowhere and Beast Within were much bigger problems. The only matchup I see where Mana Leak would be better than Negate is Caw Blade, and even then I think I'd rather blast their SoFaF than Emeria Angel.
Board wipe is clearly maindeck worthy as well. I'm shifting 2 DoJ into my main while keeping 2 more in the sideboard, and I'm also probably going to switch out Gideon for Elspeth.
9 counters seems like overkill. I'd ditch the 2 Spell Pierce and maindeck 2 Oblivion Ring. I'd even consider taking out one Negate and adding a third... takes care of Gideon quite nicely!
I've purchased a 3rd Venser online and should have it in time for Standard night next week, so I'll try my adjusted deck out and again post results.
Another possibility... I'm heavily considering dropping Gideon. If I do, I can't decide what to go with in his place. I'm thinking either two more creatures (probably +1 each of Blade Splicer and Stonehorn Dignitary) or 2 Elspeth Tirel. Thoughts?
Well, just got home from my first standard night with my deck. Unfortunately it did not go as well as hoped. I finished 2-2-1 and ended up just outside the Top 8.
As promised, here are the results. The deck was the same as I had posted before, but the sideboard was changed slightly:
Game 1 - He was dead from the get-go. My opening hand saw Blade Splicer and Shape Anew. Turn 4 I Shaped into Blightsteel and won on Turn 5.
Game 2 - He was mana screwed big time. I chipped away for a couple turns with Sea Gate Oracle and Blade Splicer, and he conceded when I stuck a Gideon.
Round 2 - vs. U/B Tezzeret, 2-0 win
Game 1 - This one was a GRIND that went about 35 minutes. I got Blightsteel out again, but he had a Tumble Magnet to answer. Over the next three turns he assembled a solid wall of Spellskites and a few other creatures created by Tezz, but I top decked Venser and used the -1 for the win.
Game 2 - This game was absurdly quick due to mana screw. He conceded with only two lands on the board after I stuck both Venser and Gideon.
Round 3 - vs. U/R Twin, 1-1 draw
Game 1 - The first hand I had to mulligan all night took me down to 5 cards. I had a few bullets but couldn't do much, and after my turn 6 Sun Titan was Leaked, I was dead in the water. Relatively quick win for him.
Game 2 - This game was intense. I literally sat behind a Wall of Omens not playing a thing for 6-7 turns. I sat on a 7-card hand that included 2 Mana Leak, Negate, O-Ring and Shape Anew while slowly accumulating enough lands to make sure he couldn't counter me when I Shaped Inkmoth into Blightsteel. He surmised that I had to have multiple counters, so he wasn't doing anything either. The look on his face was priceless when I discarded a Sun Titan and a Venser on two consecutive turns. Anyway, I finally got out Blightsteel. He cast Frost Titan to save himself momentarily, but I O-Ringed it. He flashed in an Exarch, but his Twin was met with a Negate and he couldn't do anything else.
Round 4 - vs. White Weenie/Knights, 1-2 loss
Game 1 - I had to mulligan to 6, he landed 2 Students of Warfare on turns 1 and 2, and I was dead in short order.
Game 2 - Used the Shape Anew combo again, he O-Ringed my Blightsteel, but I had a Revoke Existence in hand to bring him back. Top decked Venser to stick the big guy through his creatures.
Game 3 - I got bit by the mana screw bug. My three opening lands were the only ones I saw for 4-5 turns. I played Stonehorn to stall for a turn with Venser in hand, but wasn't able to draw the 5th land I needed.
Round 5 - Mono Green ramp, 0-2 loss
Karma is a female dog. In the majority of my games tonight I had good luck with starting hands, and great luck with top decking. That all went headfirst off a cliff here.
Game 1 - Mulligan to six, although that 6 looked nice. I had Shape Anew in hand but drew Blightsteel on turn 3. I was able to counter a couple of his moves, but he ended up overrunning me with Dungrove Elders and Garruk.
Game 2 - I had to mulligan down to 5 cards and again drew Blightsteel early. I did land a few creatures and got Stonehorn out before his Elders were overly beefed, but couldn't manage to come up with a Venser. Also, other than one Wall of Omens, I never saw a SINGLE card draw/cantrip card in this game.
Conclusions:
I like this deck. It's fun to play and has multiple wincons. However, I have made a few observations that will affect how I shape the deck going forward:
- The Shape Anew-into-Blightseel Colossus combo was actually the star of the show tonight, not Venser and his interactions with Blade Splicer/Stonehorn Dignitary. The deck probably needs a second Blightsteel, though I'm not sure just yet where to make room for him.
- The deck DEFINITELY needs a third Venser, if not a fourth. I did not see enough of him tonight, and he's a huge part of the gameplan.
- Splashing black for Inquisition was not the right move, and they will be cut going forward.
- I had cut one Inkmoth Nexus from the original four to make room for a single Swamp, but 3 of them may still be one too many.
- Spellskite and Timely Reinforcements probably need to be dropped from the sideboard in favor of something else. I never once brought them in. Also, Day of Judgment probably needs to come in to the maindeck.
- The move to replace Sun Titan with Consecrated Sphinx is one I probably should have made. Sun Titan was of very little use, and if I add a second Blightsteel, Sphinx will definitely see his way into the deck.
I have another quick question about Venser's +2 for play purposes.... let's say I Oblivion Ring one of their threats, and then a turn or two later they play a bigger one. If I use his +2 to boot my Oblivion Ring until the end of my turn, when it comes back into play I can choose whatever target I want to exile and it doesn't have to be the same one as before, right?
Thanks for posting your testing results, Maxtime. I'm going to take my deck to a local Standard tournament tomorrow and I'll post the results afterward as well.
I did test my deck just a bit this weekend. A friend came over and I let him use a RUG Pod deck I have assembled (not Splinter Twin) against me. We went 1-1 in two games. The first game he had a ridiculously sweet starting hand of Birds, Cobra, Pod, Phyrexian Metamorph and 3 lands (including at least one fetch). He got an Inferno Titan out in short order, then Metamorphed it. I was crispy. Game two we were even for the first 5-6 turns until I used the Shape Anew-into-Blightsteel combo for the win.
I am going to make a couple minor changes. I have found that the four blue-black duals are not quite enough. Both games I had an Inquisition in my starting hand, and in neither game was I ever able to cast it (although this has not been a big issue when generating random starting hands in MW). I am taking out one Inkmoth Nexus (I found in playing that 4 is really too many) and putting in one swamp.
I'm also thinking my deck may need a third Venser. I only have two right now so for the moment I'll have to stick with that, but if I do acquire a third, I'll probably drop one Inquisition.
I have considered swapping out Sun Titan for Consecrated Sphinx for card advantage purposes, but I'm not sure that card draw is something that would be totally productive here. Blightsteel is going to be a stone cold blank any and every time I draw him. Plus if I draw him with a Shape Anew in hand, that makes two worthless cards I have to sit on for an entire game.
As far as sideboarding against Caw Blade, the only two cards that I can think of other than DoJ, which we both already have sided, are Revoke Existence to get rid of their swords, or Act of Aggression to slap them with their own Hawks.
Grave Titan is certainly worth consideration, but the BB in the casting cost makes me hesitant. I'd HATE to be sitting on one for 4 or 5 turns without being able to cast him.
Another card I was thinking might be good to replace Sun Titan, or at least be added to the sideboard, is Linvala, Keeper of Silence.
Also... question about Venser's +2. Do cards like Solemn Simulacrum or Archon of Justice's "when it dies" trigger activate when the card is exiled by Venser? If so.. both of those might have a place in the deck. If not, then clearly they don't.
It was a 60-card deck though. I feel like it might be worthwhile to take it up to maybe 75 or 80.
- I realized I had cut my counters down from 6 to 5, so I went down to 3x Sea Gate Oracle in favor of a 2nd Turn Aside.
- I reneged on cutting Gideon from the deck, although I decided that I still wanted to run an Elspeth so I took out one Island to go to 25 lands.
- Instead of 2 Seachrome Coast and 4 Glacial Fortress, I went with 3 Fortress and 3 Celestial Colonnade.
Here are the results.
Round 1 vs. Caw-Blade
Game 1 - I've never played this guy before, but I've watched a few of his games and I knew going in that the Caw-Blade decks he likes to run differ from the norm in some of the card choices. He had board advantage until I got Venser out with Stonehorn Dignitary on the board, keeping him off attacking for a few turns. He tried to O-Ring Stonehorn, which I countered. However, a turn or two later he completely caught me off guard when he cast his own Venser (???), killing mine. He won after that.
Game 2 - I was dead from the get-go. Had to mulligan to 5 on the play and kept a 4-land hand with Ponder. I pretty much knew I was screwed when Ponder led to a shuffle, and I drew nothing but crap afterward (including Blightsteel).
Result: 0-2 loss
Round 2 vs. Jund Pod
Game 1 - This is a bad, bad, bad matchup. Was behind the entire time, even with casting 2 DoJ. Was on the ropes and got Blightsteel out. Next turn he Pods Grave Titan into Sheoldred. Screwed. As a side note, this game reinforced my belief that tapping out in the mid-game with this deck is a bad idea. I went all in to get out a Consecrated Sphinx on turn 6 or 7 and he seized that opportunity.
Game 2 - This is still a bad, bad, bad matchup even after boarding. I put up a fight but again played from behind pretty much the entire game.
Result: 0-2 loss
Round 3 Bye
Looking back, I'm really glad I got the bye in the third round, not just for the three points, but because I was pretty much on tilt after getting reamed by the Jund Pod player. That break allowed me to grab a Sprite and settle down and scout some of the other decks.
Round 4 vs. Mono Green ramp
Sidenote: This was the same guy who destroyed me in the last round last week, playing the same deck. This time revenge was mine!
Game 1 - I used the Shape Anew combo on turn 6 or 7 with a few small guys on the board, but he had two Dungrove Elders, a Thrun and a Primeval Titan of his own so victory was no sure thing. Luckily for me, I top-decked Gideon and he conceded.
Game 2 - Best opening hand of the night by far, especially against a deck with no counterspells. Venser, Stonehorn, Blade Splicer, Negate and three lands. Went back and forth for a few turns of him attacking with one relatively unthreatening Dungrove Elder until the Stonehorn-Venser combo got on the board. There was no point in popping Venser's ultimate since almost all of his damn creatures were hexproof, so just kept bouncing Stonehorn over and over again. He tried to Dismember him and Beast Within Venser, but I had counters for both. I eventually used Shape Anew and won.
Result: 2-0 win
Round 5 vs. Mono Black
Game 1 - Mulligan to five on the draw and never really could get going. He used removal to get rid of a couple creatures, and he ended up on turn 7 or 8 with a Phyrexian Obliterator equipped with both Sword of Feast and Famine AND Lashwrithe (give me a break). Needless to say I was toast.
Game 2 - I got *really* lucky here. Opening hand saw 2 DoJ, Blade Splicer, Sea Gate Oracle and three lands. He cast Duress on turn 1 (which is a mistake in my book, but hey what do I know) and took out one of the DoJ, then Extracted the others. I drew Shape Anew on my second turn. I used it a couple turns later on an Inkmoth Nexus and he conceded. I highly doubt I would have won the game if he had cast Duress on turn 2 instead of turn 1.
Game 3 - This game was intense. He was stuck on 3 lands for a while. I had an Oracle, two Golem tokens (he killed the Splicers) and a Colonnade on the board. He was at 12 life, I was still at 20. I'd had enough lands to activate the Colonnade for a turn or two, but had used the mana to cast things. He finally draws a 4th Swamp and plays an Obliterator. Obviously this halts my ground assault, but I activate the Colonnade and swing for 4 in the air. His next turn, he casts a second Obliterator and swings with the first. I take the 5 to go to 15. My next turn I swing with Colonnade again to put him at 4. Next turn he casts Memoricide to get rid of my Shape Anews, then swings with one Obliterator. I again let it through to go to 10. He still has two open mana and deep down I strongly suspect he's going to Doom Blade my Colonnade when I activate it, and I have no counter in hand. But I feel like I have to attempt the kill here or I may be in trouble. Sure enough, he brings it out and I lose my 4/4 flyer.
Now we're at a stalemate for a few turns. He's got two Obliterators. I'm at 10 life, he's at 4. If he swings with both, I'm going to let one through and block the other with Sea Gate Oracle, take 7 damage, sacrifice a land and swing for the kill with the tokens on my next turn. At one point he goes for Lashwrithe, which I Negate. I cast a couple cantrips trying to get the win. That fails, but I do manage to come up with a Stonehorn which is useful as it guarantees he can't swing with both Obliterators then cast a blocker to thwart me. Then comes the decisive turn. He casts a third Obliterator, to which I slump back in my chair in disgust. He passes the turn to me, I reveal my hand of a land and a Turn Aside, and make a half-hearted grab at the card on top of my library, which happens to be....
....Venser!!
Result: 2-1 win
Conclusions:
Ended up with 9 points and broke into the Top 8, finishing 7th off tie-breakers.
Liking the deck more and more.
The good: 1) Cutting black was a step forward. 2) Adding a third Venser and swapping in the Colonnades were big ones as well. 3) See Beyond was an All-Star... there were at least two times I was able to use it to shuffle Blightsteel out of my hand. And running 4 of them makes a starting hand with him in it no longer an automatic mulligan when the other 6 cards look good.
The not-so-good: 1) I'm still VERY much unsure what I think about Gideon vs. Elspeth... either, both, which? Ugh. 2) I know that earlier in this thread I told another poster that 9 counters seemed like overkill, but now I'm not so sure that 6 is enough. More often than not tonight, when I really needed one in hand, I didn't have one. I'm thinking I might try to find a way to go to 2 Mana Leak/2 Dispel/4 Negate. 3) I'm also still not very satisfied with the sideboard.
Edit: Boooooo... toadums beat me to it!
Actually, yes! I was just thinking about that card earlier today after playing MTGO and having my lunch eaten by a Pyromancer Ascension deck that provided limitless card advantage through Preordains, Ponders and See Beyond.
I think this is going to be the version I take to Standard night, provided my 3rd Venser comes in the mail tomorrow (if not then this will wait until next week).
3 Stonehorn Dignitary
3 Blade Splicer
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Blightsteel Colossus
3 Venser, the Sojourner
2 Elspeth Tirel
4 See Beyond
2 Day of Judgment
2 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ponder
2 Shape Anew
1 Turn Aside
7 Plains
3 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Mental Misstep
2 Spreading Seas
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Day of Judgment
2 Revoke Existence
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Magosi, the Waterveil
I'm considering going to 62 cards with 26 lands by adding 2 more Negate, but I'm not sure it's worth it.
Thoughts?
I realized quickly that when playing this deck (or at least my version), you pretty much ALWAYS have to keep mana up for counters after the first few turns. Once I get to 5 lands or so, I'm not tapping out unless I'm dropping a Planeswalker, or maybe Stonehorn Dignitary depending on the situation.
Another thing I was considering was switching to 2 Mana Leak and 4 Negate. For the most part of the night for me, creatures weren't the biggest obstacles I faced. Oblivion Ring/Journey to Nowhere and Beast Within were much bigger problems. The only matchup I see where Mana Leak would be better than Negate is Caw Blade, and even then I think I'd rather blast their SoFaF than Emeria Angel.
Board wipe is clearly maindeck worthy as well. I'm shifting 2 DoJ into my main while keeping 2 more in the sideboard, and I'm also probably going to switch out Gideon for Elspeth.
1. Drop Mox
2. Drop Memnite x2
3. Tap Mox and drop Signal Pest
Out of mana with no way to drop any Glint Hawks
Another possibility... I'm heavily considering dropping Gideon. If I do, I can't decide what to go with in his place. I'm thinking either two more creatures (probably +1 each of Blade Splicer and Stonehorn Dignitary) or 2 Elspeth Tirel. Thoughts?
Maindeck:
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Sun Titan
+1 Consecrated Sphinx
+1 Blightsteel Colossus
+1 Venser
+2 Day of Judgment
Sideboard:
-3 Timely Reinforcements
-2 Spellskite
-1 Tectonic Edge
+2 Spreading Seas
+2 Mental Misstep
+2 Ratchet Bomb
As promised, here are the results. The deck was the same as I had posted before, but the sideboard was changed slightly:
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Mental Misstep
2 Day of Judgment
2 Revoke Existence
2 Spellskite
1 Magosi, the Waterveil
Round 1 - vs. RDW, 2-0 win
Game 1 - He was dead from the get-go. My opening hand saw Blade Splicer and Shape Anew. Turn 4 I Shaped into Blightsteel and won on Turn 5.
Game 2 - He was mana screwed big time. I chipped away for a couple turns with Sea Gate Oracle and Blade Splicer, and he conceded when I stuck a Gideon.
Round 2 - vs. U/B Tezzeret, 2-0 win
Game 1 - This one was a GRIND that went about 35 minutes. I got Blightsteel out again, but he had a Tumble Magnet to answer. Over the next three turns he assembled a solid wall of Spellskites and a few other creatures created by Tezz, but I top decked Venser and used the -1 for the win.
Game 2 - This game was absurdly quick due to mana screw. He conceded with only two lands on the board after I stuck both Venser and Gideon.
Round 3 - vs. U/R Twin, 1-1 draw
Game 1 - The first hand I had to mulligan all night took me down to 5 cards. I had a few bullets but couldn't do much, and after my turn 6 Sun Titan was Leaked, I was dead in the water. Relatively quick win for him.
Game 2 - This game was intense. I literally sat behind a Wall of Omens not playing a thing for 6-7 turns. I sat on a 7-card hand that included 2 Mana Leak, Negate, O-Ring and Shape Anew while slowly accumulating enough lands to make sure he couldn't counter me when I Shaped Inkmoth into Blightsteel. He surmised that I had to have multiple counters, so he wasn't doing anything either. The look on his face was priceless when I discarded a Sun Titan and a Venser on two consecutive turns. Anyway, I finally got out Blightsteel. He cast Frost Titan to save himself momentarily, but I O-Ringed it. He flashed in an Exarch, but his Twin was met with a Negate and he couldn't do anything else.
Round 4 - vs. White Weenie/Knights, 1-2 loss
Game 1 - I had to mulligan to 6, he landed 2 Students of Warfare on turns 1 and 2, and I was dead in short order.
Game 2 - Used the Shape Anew combo again, he O-Ringed my Blightsteel, but I had a Revoke Existence in hand to bring him back. Top decked Venser to stick the big guy through his creatures.
Game 3 - I got bit by the mana screw bug. My three opening lands were the only ones I saw for 4-5 turns. I played Stonehorn to stall for a turn with Venser in hand, but wasn't able to draw the 5th land I needed.
Round 5 - Mono Green ramp, 0-2 loss
Karma is a female dog. In the majority of my games tonight I had good luck with starting hands, and great luck with top decking. That all went headfirst off a cliff here.
Game 1 - Mulligan to six, although that 6 looked nice. I had Shape Anew in hand but drew Blightsteel on turn 3. I was able to counter a couple of his moves, but he ended up overrunning me with Dungrove Elders and Garruk.
Game 2 - I had to mulligan down to 5 cards and again drew Blightsteel early. I did land a few creatures and got Stonehorn out before his Elders were overly beefed, but couldn't manage to come up with a Venser. Also, other than one Wall of Omens, I never saw a SINGLE card draw/cantrip card in this game.
Conclusions:
I like this deck. It's fun to play and has multiple wincons. However, I have made a few observations that will affect how I shape the deck going forward:
- The Shape Anew-into-Blightseel Colossus combo was actually the star of the show tonight, not Venser and his interactions with Blade Splicer/Stonehorn Dignitary. The deck probably needs a second Blightsteel, though I'm not sure just yet where to make room for him.
- The deck DEFINITELY needs a third Venser, if not a fourth. I did not see enough of him tonight, and he's a huge part of the gameplan.
- Splashing black for Inquisition was not the right move, and they will be cut going forward.
- I had cut one Inkmoth Nexus from the original four to make room for a single Swamp, but 3 of them may still be one too many.
- Spellskite and Timely Reinforcements probably need to be dropped from the sideboard in favor of something else. I never once brought them in. Also, Day of Judgment probably needs to come in to the maindeck.
- The move to replace Sun Titan with Consecrated Sphinx is one I probably should have made. Sun Titan was of very little use, and if I add a second Blightsteel, Sphinx will definitely see his way into the deck.
Thoughts?
Also, re: Caw-Blade... Ratchet Bomb might also be a strong sideboard inclusion.
I did test my deck just a bit this weekend. A friend came over and I let him use a RUG Pod deck I have assembled (not Splinter Twin) against me. We went 1-1 in two games. The first game he had a ridiculously sweet starting hand of Birds, Cobra, Pod, Phyrexian Metamorph and 3 lands (including at least one fetch). He got an Inferno Titan out in short order, then Metamorphed it. I was crispy. Game two we were even for the first 5-6 turns until I used the Shape Anew-into-Blightsteel combo for the win.
I am going to make a couple minor changes. I have found that the four blue-black duals are not quite enough. Both games I had an Inquisition in my starting hand, and in neither game was I ever able to cast it (although this has not been a big issue when generating random starting hands in MW). I am taking out one Inkmoth Nexus (I found in playing that 4 is really too many) and putting in one swamp.
I'm also thinking my deck may need a third Venser. I only have two right now so for the moment I'll have to stick with that, but if I do acquire a third, I'll probably drop one Inquisition.
I have considered swapping out Sun Titan for Consecrated Sphinx for card advantage purposes, but I'm not sure that card draw is something that would be totally productive here. Blightsteel is going to be a stone cold blank any and every time I draw him. Plus if I draw him with a Shape Anew in hand, that makes two worthless cards I have to sit on for an entire game.
As far as sideboarding against Caw Blade, the only two cards that I can think of other than DoJ, which we both already have sided, are Revoke Existence to get rid of their swords, or Act of Aggression to slap them with their own Hawks.
Another card I was thinking might be good to replace Sun Titan, or at least be added to the sideboard, is Linvala, Keeper of Silence.
Also... question about Venser's +2. Do cards like Solemn Simulacrum or Archon of Justice's "when it dies" trigger activate when the card is exiled by Venser? If so.. both of those might have a place in the deck. If not, then clearly they don't.