Zendikar Game Day (Top 8)

Today was Zendikar Game Day. I decided to go, since it was essentially FNM + 3 bucks and extra prizes. Not bad. We ended up with exactly 17 people showing up, so it was 5 rounds of Swiss into top 8. X-2 was enough to make it in by my calculations.

I got my Nissa's Chosen and gushed over it (I almost wish I was playing R/G Elves, since that Chosen looks SO DAMN COOL!) and then it was on to the first round.

Round 1 vs. U/B Mill

First round, he came out of the gates, and I drew very few creatures. I drew a Bloodbraid Elf with 8 cards left in my library, and he Mind Funeraled me. Sadly, out of those 8 cards, only 3 were land.

Game 2 I had Anathemancers in just as another guy to replace my removal. I managed to get double Bloodbraid Elf and kill him.

Game 3 I was hitting him and he played Nemesis of Reason. I swung with Sprouting Thrinax and Bloodbraid Elf (into Putrid Leech) and he killed the Thrinax, just as I planned. Sure he Doom Bladed the Elf, but meh. What happened next is something I'm not sure about.

He declared an attack with Nemesis of Reason, then said 'Wait no, play Traumatize first'. I said that he'd declared an attack, and he swung, knocked me to 14 cards (I killed the Nemesis) then Traumatized me to 7. It turned out it didn't matter in the end, as I killed him next turn, but since it was REL 1, should I have let him take it back? I'd appreciate feedback on this for next time.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Mono-White

She was running a deck with Baneslayers, Emeria, and various soldiers with Honor of the Pure. She had a fair bit of removal as well. I can't remember much of this round, but I do remember going 2-1.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Vampires

Game 1 he played some guys, but I played some better guys. Not much to it.

Game 2 I knocked him to 5, but he Tendrilled for about 8 and played Malakir Bloodwitch and was able to defeat me handily.

Game 3 I took him to 2 before he stabilised, but I had the Lightning Bolt.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Jund

I offer the ID, but he declines for whatever reason, so we end up playing it out.

Round 1 he's playing Borderland Ranger, which is odd. He eventually kills me with Broodmate Dragon.

Round 2 about the same thing happens, but I get a Bituminous Blast. It cascades into an Elf cascading into a Thrinax, but he plays another Broodmate. Despite my Deathmark, he gets through for the win.

Afterwards he tells me he runs 4 Broodmates but no Leeches. He runs Borderland Ranger as a source of card advantage.

3-1

Round 5 vs. ID

I offer the draw to him, and explain my reasoning, and he accepts.

3-1-1

I make Top 8, and we go into single elimination.

Top 8 vs. Luminarch Control

I go up against the guy who ID'ed with me last round. Game 1 I knock him down to 3, but he gets Luminarch active with 8 mana. I die.

Game 2 I manage to simply answer every real threat he plays, with Pulses for the Ascension and Wall of Reverence, and Bituminous Blast for the World Queller. My board overwhelms him.

Game 3 he draws triple Path, double O-Ring, and Journey to Nowhere. I knock him down to literally 1, but he gets Wall of Reverence and active Ascension, stifling my attempts to win.

Eliminated in Top 8.

And that's my tournament. I get a very nice-looking foil full-art Emeria Angel. The guy playing Luminarch Control ends up eliminated against the Jund guy who beat me, and the Mill deck makes the finals against Jund Guy. Jund Guy wins the whole tournament, but doesn't get his certificate since it's not in Australia yet.

I then proceed to get my prize packs, choosing M10, and out of my first pack, see a Garruk staring back at me. I show it to a couple of people, and proclaim it's going straight in my Jund deck. I then open the second pack, only to find ANOTHER GARRUK WILDSPEAKER! The whole store exclaims at my luck, and I immediately slot them both into my Jund deck. That was very damn lucky.

And that's the Game Day! I had a great time, and am definitely going to attend the Worldwake Game Day, and hopefully do better that time! I would recommend the Worldwake Game Day to anyone thinking of attending: it's like an FNM, but with more prizes! What more could you ask for?

Until next time!

Zendikar Prerelease: A Gamer's Tale.

After finishing yesterday's blog post at 3 am, I then proceeded to fall asleep until 8 am. I got more sleep than half the players at the Prerelease. (We're GAMERS. It happens) I headed in, and the atmosphere was absolutely, positively...dull. This continued on in that vein, until...

WAIT A MINUTE. This isn't "How My Day Went", this is the Zendikar Prerelease report! So let's just skip right to the cards, shall we? Any objections?

...

...

...

*crickets chirp*

...

I thought not.

We got passed our cards and deck registration sheets, and I started sorting. It took a bit of time, since I had to open a kid's boosters for him (he broke his arm a few weeks ago and still hasn't missed a week. That's just awesome.) but I immediately realised, while I didn't have any bombs, I had a very solid pool. Here's what I opened.

Basic Land:

2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp

Non-Basic Land:

1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Soaring Seacliff
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Artifact:

1 Adventuring Gear
1 Carnage Altar
2 Expedition Map
1 Stonework Puma
1 Trusty Machete

White:

1 Brave the Elements
2 Caravan Hurda
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Kazandu Blademaster
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Nimbus Wings
1 Noble Vestige
1 Ondu Cleric
1 Shieldmate's Blessing
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Sunspring Expedition

Blue:

1 Archive Trap
1 Caller of Gales
1 Gomazoa
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Quest for Ancient Secrets
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Summoner's Bane
2 Tempest Owl
1 Trapfinder's Trick
2 Welkin Tern
1 Whiplash Trap

Black:

4 Crypt Ripper
1 Desecrated Earth
1 Feast of Blood
1 Giant Scorpion
2 Hideous End
2 Mindless Null
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Vampire Hexmage

Red:

1 Geyser Glider
1 Goblin War Paint
1 Murasa Pyromancer
1 Plated Geopede
1 Quest for Pure Flame
1 Ruinous Minotaur
1 Seismic Shudder
1 Shatterskull Giant
1 Spire Barrage
1 Torch Slinger
1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Green:

2 Grazing Gladehart
1 Joraga Bard
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Nissa's Chosen
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Savage Silhouette
2 Tajuru Archer
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Vastwood Gorger

Now, since you may not know all the cards in Zendikar yet (shame on you for not memorising the entire Visual Spoiler already!) here are some of the more interesting ones.

Crypt Ripper

2BB

Haste

2/2

B: +1/+1 til EOT.

I opened FOUR of these. Yeah. FOUR. As I mentioned in my own post, this card is actually pretty damn good. Combined with the two Hideous End, I knew instantly I would play black. We didn't end up deck swapping (we have a fairly lenient prerelease) so we got to brewin'!

The biggest problem I had was in deciding a second color. I could have made arguments for all of them. Red had some solid creatures and Zektar Shrine. Green had some great creatures. White had a Piece of removal and some combat tricks, and blue has a lot of decent playables, including two (Reckless Scholar and Sea Gate Loremaster) that can just win the game if left unchecked.

After much agonizing, I went with a blue-black build. I chose to add the Seacliff, but not the Piranha Marsh. Here's the build I ended up with:

Lands (17)

7 Island
1 Soaring Seacluff
9 Swamp

Creatures (13)

1 Caller of Gales
4 Crypt Ripper
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Gomozoa
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Vampire Hexmage
2 Welkin Tern

Spells (10)

1 Carnage Altar
2 Hideous End
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Summoner's Bane
1 Trusty Machete
1 Whiplash Trap

I added Carnage Altar as an experiment. Cards like this can occasionally turn out uber-powerful, and if I was right, I'd look awesome and have a great edge.

It wasn't. It was terrible, and I should have taken it out after Round 1. Somehow I forgot about the 'Change your deck between rounds' rule at the Prerelease.

Trusty Machete, however, was bloody awesome.

Crypt Ripper, however, was my MVP. So good to have 4 of them. Let's move on to the games though, lest I wax about every card in my deck.

Round 1 vs. Heath

I lose the die roll. Both of us elect to keep. He leads with a Sunspring Expedition. I match it with a Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Kor Skyfisher, bouncing his Plains, and I pass. He plays Turntimber Grove and bashes me for 3. (17,20)

I pass. He swings again, and I give his Skyfisher a rather Hideous End. (17,18) He plays a Shieldmate. A 1/4 defender. Scary. I play Crypt Ripper, he plays Greenweaver Druid. I drop an Ior Ruin, then a land (I almost, out of habit, do it the other way round) and swing. He lets it through, and I triple-pump. (17, 13). He activates his Expedition. (17, 21). He plays Harrow and swings. I take 1. (16, 21). I attack with Crypt Ripper. His 1/4 blocks, and I pump the Ripper to kill it. At the end of my turn, he plays Baloth Cage Trap.

Next turn, he plays Celestial Mantle and swings with a 7/7 that will double his life total if it hits. Yeah, I chump block. Next turn I kick Into The Roil to bounce his token, then swing, and pump +4. (16, 11). He plays Kor Hookmaster and Explorer's Scope. He swings for 1. (15, 11). I play Sky Ruin Drake and another Soul Stair Expedition, then pass.

He plays Stonework Puma, then Brave the Elements naming blue. He swings. (13, 11). I swing. He blocks with the Puma. I pump to kill it, and hit for 2 with my Drake. (13, 9). I then play Sea Gate Loremaster and Giant Scorpion. He untaps and plays Landbind Ritual. (13, 21). He swings. Giant Scorpion blocks. The Hookmaster dies. I swing. (13, 18). He blocks my Crypt Ripper with Greenweaver Druid. He passes.

I play Gomazoa and Trusty Machete. I equip it, and swing. (13, 8) He plays Kor Sanctifiers. I Summoner's Bane it. Next turn, I play Soaring Seacliff, pump my Ripper, and beat him to death in the air.

Game 2 he chooses to play. He keeps, and I mull to 6. His first play is Kor Outfitters. I draw Soul Stair Expedition, play it, then lay a land. He plays Greenweaver Druid, and swings. (20, 18). I play Giant Scorpion, and he kicks Kor Aeronaut. He swings. (20, 16). I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 16). He plays Turntimber Larva. He swings again. (18, 14). I respond in kind, with a 5/5 Crypt Ripper. (13, 14). He swings (13, 10) and I block Turntimber Larva with Giant Scorpion. I get it back with the Expedition at EOT.

I play it, then swing, pumping twice. (9, 10). He plays another Kor Outfitters and swings. (9, 5). I play Gomozoa and pass. He plays Stonework Puma and knocks me to two. I play Carnage Alter and sacrifice Gomozoa. I fail to draw an answer, and concede.

On to Game 3!

I play, and we both keep. I play a Trusty Machete, he plays Sunspring Expedition. I play Vampire Hexmage, he plays Expedition Map. I swing, then play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster, targeting the Hexmage. I equip Trusty Machete to Welkin Tern. (This happens several times throughout the day. It becomes a running gag of mine about the homocidal bird carrying a machete in it's mouth.)

I swing. (14, 20). He uses Expedition Map to find Turntimber Grove, plays it, and hits me for 3. (14, 17). I play Sky Ruin Drake (or as I start calling it, Race Ruin Drake) and swing. (8, 17). He sacs the Expedition. (16, 17). He plays Territorial Baloth. I play Crypt Ripper. He swings. (10, 11). We have a race on our hands! I oblige. He then plays Kor Outfitters, attaching the Expedition Scope to the Basilisk. I play Crypt Ripper. I swing. He Pitfall Traps my 4/4 Ripper and blocks the other. (2, 11). He then plays Puma, and Harrow (making the Baloth an 8/8.) He swings. I go to 3. I win next turn.

1-0


Round 2 vs. Luke


I play first. I play a Swamp, he plays the R/G Refuge. (20, 21)
I play a land, he plays Zektar Shrine Expedition.
I play Reckless Scholar, he passes. I play Crypt Ripper, he uses Punishing Fire. He passes. I play a Sky Ruin Drake. He passes again. I play Ior Ruin Expedition and attack. He Harrows and Hideous Ends my Drake. (18, 19). He plays Tuktuk Grunts and swings. I block. I play Gomazoa, then Welkin Tern. I swing. (18, 17).

He plays Marsh Casualties. I play Trusty Machete and Crypt Ripper. I swing. (18, 15). He swings with the Zektar and a 4/4. I block the 7/1 and Gomazoa-shuffle it into oblivion, and take 4. (14, 15). I equip Crypt Ripper with my Machete, and attack. (14, 9). He plays Mark of Mutiny on it, and attacks. (6, 9). I swing, he blocks. I play Sea Gate Loremaster.

He plays Giant Scorpion. He passes. I swing and he blocks and uses Slaughter Cry to kill my guy. He plays a Shrine, and a land. He swings. (5, 9). I equip the Machete to the Loremaster. I pass. He swings. (4, 9). I Hideous End his blocker next turn, and swing. (4, 4). He kicks Mold Shambler. I use Summoner's Bane. I play a Crypt Ripper next turn and swing for the win.


Game 2 he chooses to draw. I play a Turn 2 Ior Ruin, and he passes. I play Reckless Scholar. He plays Vampire Nighthawk. (The sheer IMPOSSIBILITY of this card to be dealt with profitably says that I want this as my Jund 3-drop.) I play a Crypt Ripper and pass. He swings. (18, 22). I play a land and sac the Expedition. I pass. He swings. (16, 24). He then plays Spidersilk Net and attaches it to the Nighthawk. He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir, and I sacrifice my Reckless Scholar.

I play my combo: Caller of Gales plus Giant Scorpion. He swings. (12, 28). I play a Crypt Ripper. He plays Malakir Bloodwitch. (9, 31). He swings. I use my combo and block. (9, 33). I swing, and +3. He goes to 28. He Spidersilk Nets onto the Bloodwitch. I Whiplash Trap it at end of turn, since the only card I have to kill it is Summoner's Bane (in hand, too!)

I then swing. (9, 22). He plays Malakir Bloodwitch, I Summoner's Bane it. I swing. (9, 11). He plays Hagra Diabolist. (8, 11). I kick Into the Roil and swing for the win.

2-0.


Round 3 vs. Brian.


I mulligan, and he keeps. He plays the G/W refuge. (20, 21). I lay a land and pass. We both play lands, then I play Giant Scorpion. He passes. I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (20, 18). He passes. I swing, pump the Ripper to a 4/4. He Burst Lightnings it (with Kicker). (20, 17). He passes. I play a Crypt Ripper and swing. (20, 12). Next turn I play Trusty Machete and Welkin Tarn and swing. (20, 3). He concedes.

Game 2 he plays Kor Duelist. I play Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Turntimber Grove and swings. (20, 18). I play Welkin Tern. He swings. (20, 17). He plays Nissa's Chosen. I play Trusty Machete, and equip it to the Tern. I swing. (16, 17). We both swing for a few turns. Here's how it goes:

16, 14.
12, 14.
12, 11.
8, 11.

He then plays an end of turn Baloth Cage Trap. He swings, and I Whiplash Trap his token and Chosen. (8. 9) He plays Oracle of Mul Daya. I swing. (4, 9). He plays Kor Hookmaster. I Summoner's Bane it. He Magma Rifts. I get it back with Soul Stair at EOT.

I equip the machete to my token and swing. He blocks. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He kicks Kor Sanctifiers and kills my Machete. I swing. (9, 2). I play Welkin Tern and Sea Gate Loremaster. He draws and concedes.

3-0.


Round 4 vs. Jarred


I've been hearing tales of Jarred's amazing deck all day. Let's see if it lives up to the hype.

He keeps, I mulligan. I play a land, he plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). Turn 3 he plays Quest for the Gemblades. I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 19). He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He plays Territorial Baloth. I pass. He swings. I block the Gatekeeper. (18, 13). He plays some guys, and I Whiplash Trap them for U.

Aside: I totally punted this. For some reason I thought Whiplash Trap's U cost was only meant to bounce the creatures that were played. I should have gone for the Baloth instead. It probably wouldn't have helped though. See below.

He swings. (18, 7).

Next turn he plays Sorin Markov. He drains my life and beats me to death shortly after.

Game 2 I play Caller of Gales. He plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). I swing, and play Welkin Tarn. He plays Quest of the Gemblades. I swing. (16, 19). He plays Vampire Nighthawk. So much for out-aggroing him.

I play a Soul Stair and pass. He swings. (18, 17). I swing. (16, 17). He plays Crypt Ripper and swings. (18, 12)

I play Sea Gate Loremaster and swing. (16, 12).

He swings. (18, 4).

I draw, and concede.

3-1.


Ow...the pain...

Round 5 vs. Nicholas


He wins the roll. I mulligan. Turn 1, he plays Guul Draz Vampire. I play Caller of Gales. He swings, and I block. He plays a second Guul Draz Vampire. I play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster and swings. (20, 19). I pass. He swings (20, 18) then plays Kor Cartographer.

I swing. (18, 18). He swings. (18, 15). He plays Kazandu Blademaster and Adventuring Geat. I swing. (16, 15) I play Carnage Altar, again cursing it's very existence.

He swings. (16, 10). I pass. He swings (16, 4). I kick Into The Roil, fail to find something next turn, and concede.

Game 2 I choose to play. I play Soul Stair, he plays Vampire Lacerator and Spidersilk Net. I pass. He swings (19, 18) and plays Bloodghast. I play Gomazoa. He swings. I block Bloodghast. (18, 16)

I play Reckless Scholar. He swings. I block Bloodghast and shuffle them away. (17,14). he swings next turn. (16, 12). I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (14, 12).

He swings, I block, and he casts Disfigure. (13, 12). I swing, and he casts Hideous End. (13, 10). I remark that now I'm at 10, I'm basically screwed. He agrees. I play Hexmage. He swings. After double-checking for a combat trick, I blow him out with my guys. He forgot Hexmage had first strike. a Hideous End was also involved. (He played a Hookmaster at one point. My notes suck.) (11, 10).

I swing. (6, 10). I win quite quickly, and we're on to Game 3.

Game 3 I keep, and my heart turns to ice. How could I forget that his deck was so fast, and I have so little early action!?

He plays Vampire Lacerator. I play Carnage Altar. He swings. (19, 18). I pass. He swings. (18, 16). He plays Kor Sanctifiers.

I play Gomazoa, acting as if I had it all along. Don't know if I fooled him. He swings. (17, 14) then plays Heartstabber Mosquito. I play Ior Ruin Expedition, lay a land, and pass. he swings. (16, 10). Once again, past the 10 mark. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He swings, I block Lacerator. (16, 6) He plays another couple of guys next turn and swings. (16, 2). I have nothing off the top, and that's the tournament.

3-2.


Well, in the end thanks to high resistances, I come 8th out of 33, so I'm happy. I get some Zendikar packs for my troubles, and had a cool day of Magic. I'll need to play at the Launch Party and participate in some Zendikar draft before I make a formal conclusion as to the format, but here's my view:

As spoken by someone who's name I don't know at the Prerelease: Games in Zendikar go really fast or really long. There's not really a middle ground. I totally agree. Zendikar's early drops and bombs are so good that midrange decks get flanked on either side. Either play aggro or play late-game: but make a choice. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Thank you, nameless guy.

Quests are very useful. They're also a big part of Limited.

Black is the best color in Zendikar. Most of the top 8 played with it. I advise trying to play it in Sealed. I don't know about Draft yet.

Thanks for reading!

Tournament Report: August Week 4

Welcome back to Magic: The Blogging! People have expressed interest in the tournament reports, so I'm bringing them back. I didn't draft today, but I did have some interesting games.

2 weeks beforehand, my teammate Jeremy lost the GSS Jund list I was playing, so I had to make a new deck. Here's what I made, totally off the cuff, with the thirty dollars + trades available (and I had Maelstrom Pulse already)

Lands (24)

4 Savage Lands
4 Vivid Crag
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Graven Cairns
2 Jungle Shrine
2 Twilight Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

Creatures (17)

4 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Boggart Ram-Gang (lack of card availability)
3 Kitchen Finks (lack of card availability)
4 Putrid Leech
1 Vithian Renegades

Spells(19)

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Sign in Blood

I didn't have time to build a sideboard, so I was going to have to play pretty tightly. Round One loomed.

Round 1 vs. Elf Combo / Synergy

I mulligan to 6, and he mulligans to 3. Ouch. He plays a Llanowar Elves, and I play Lightning Bolt. Normally I wouldn't, but I'm taking the chance he's stuck on one. He is. I play Sign in Blood. (18) We play Land-Go (Go for him, no lands) and then I play Bloodbraid Elf into a blank Anathemancer and swing (17). He plays Nettle Sentinel. I swing for 5 (12) and pass. He plays Heritage Druid. I swing for 5 (7) and play Sign in Blood. (16) He plays Nettle Sentinel, and pass. I swing, he blocks Bloodbraid Elf and lets Anathemancer through. I double Jund Charm to pump it to a 6/6 and win.

Game 2  I mulligan to five. He plays 2 Elvish Visionaries and I play Sign in Blood. He plays Elvish Harbinger. I play Putrid Leech, Lightning Bolt the Harbinger, and pass. He plays Jagged-Scar Archers. I swing, and pump (16) and kill the Archers. I play a Gray Ogre Anathemancer and pass. He plays Bramblewood Paragon. I Lightning Bolt, then Bituminous Blast into Vithian Renegades, coming up with a blank. He plays Coat of Arms and another Paragon. He doesn't swing, and next turn I bolt a 3/3 Visionary, and swing with Vithian Renegades. Paragon blocks. I play Putrid Leech and pass. Next turn I swing (14) and hit (12) and pass. He passes, I EOT Jund Charm Anathemancer. I swing (12, 4), then next turn swing for the win.

I later find out that he's a fairly new player, who was lent Elf Combo by a friend. I give him some tips (mainly to be more aggressive) and move on to Round 2.

1-0.

Round 2 vs. Esper Jank

Game 1 I mull to 6, and he plays Mistvein Borderpost. Next turn a Fieldmist Borderpost. I play Putrid Leech, and he plays Master of Etherium. I Maelstrom Pulse it, and swing. (18, 16). I pass. He plays two Borderposts. I swing and Jund Charm + pump the Putrid Leech. (16, 10) I Sign in Blood (14) and pass. He plays Etherium Sculptor, I Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt and earn the concession.

Game 2 He plays Etherium Sculptor. I Bolt it. He plays Esper Charm to draw two. I play Anathemancer for two. (18). He Crystallises it. I pass. He plays Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt, killing Gwafa, and swing for 3 (15). He plays Levitation. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Maelstrom Pulse, killing Levitation. I swing for 6. (9). He plays Crystallisation on Bloodbraid Elf and Court Homunculus. I swing, and Court Homunculus blocks. I use Jund Charm on Bloodbraid Elf. I play Putrid Leech, and pass.

He plays Mistvein Borderpost and passes. I swing, Etherium Sculptor blocks. I Jund Charm Putrid Leech and pump. (18, 3). He draws and plays Magister Sphinx (18,10). I Anathamancer for 2. He plays Court Homunculus, and swings with the Sphinx. (13, 8). I Bolt Court Homunculus, and swing for the win.

2-0

Match 3 vs. R/G Fat Guys

This is a Warp World deck, but with more big R/G creatures and no Warp World. It still has Siege-Gang commander and acceleration though.

I start off with Sign in Blood (18, 20). He plays Farhaven Elf. I play Putrid Leech. He plays Spellbreaker Behemoth. I swing. Farhaven Elf blocks. He swings, and I double Bolt the Behemoth to kill it. I then swing. (16,16)  He plays Broodmate Dragon. I EOT Bituminous Blast into a Sign in Blood, then Bituminous Blast on my turn into a Sign in Blood. I swing (10, 12) He plays Bogardan Hellkite and knocks me to 5. (5,12) I use Lightning Bolt and Bituminous Blast into Putrid Leech, and swing without pumping. (5,10). He plays Dragon Broodmother. I Bloodbraid Elf into Anathemancer for 2 (5, 8) and swing. He blocks a Leech with the 1/1 dragon and Bloodbraid Elf with the Broodmother. I Jund Charm so the Elf and Dragon trade. (5, 6) He draws and concedes.

Game 2. This is an incredible game for me, where I play very well and get a generous dollop of luck. He plays Fertile Ground. I play Putrid Leech. He plays Trace of Abundance. I'm stuck on 2, and remark that there are worse hands to be stuck on 2 at as I play my second Leech.  I swing. (18, 16). He plays Baneslayer Angel. I play my third land, swing, and then close my eyes and say 'Baneslayer Angel has first strike and lifelink, doesn't it?' He asks if I'm attacking with both, I sigh and say yes. He blocks one, I Jund Charm and pump it to kill Baneslayer Angel! Yes! I pump the other as well. (14, 17). He plays a Cloudthresher. (12, 15) I swing again, with the 4/4 Leech.. (10, 9). Cloudthresher attacks, and I pump my 2/2 and Lightning Bolt the Cloudthresher. (8, 9) He plays Broodmate Dragon.

He has lethal damage on the table. Flying no less. I draw Jund Charm, and grin with confidence. I swing, and he blocks with a Broodmate Dragon. I Jund Charm again (two bluffs!). He swings (4, 9) and plays Siege-Gang Commander. At this point, only Jund Charm can save me and even then Broodmate Dragon'll have me, but I draw Bloodbraid Elf, play it, CASCADE INTO JUND CHARM, wipe out his team, and swing for the win. Prodigious amounts of luck and skill won me that game which I really shouldn't have won, but I guess my bluffing has improved.

I move into the final round.

3-0.

Round 4 vs. Kithkin.

I bolt his initial Stalwart, and get stuck on 2 land. He plays another Stalwart and Knight of the White Orchid, then plays Forge-Tender and Honor of the Pure next turn. I get crushed.

Game 2 He plays Goldmeadow Stalwart and swings. He plays another Stalwart, then Honor of the Pure next turn and swings. (12) Here I make my mistake. I should Maelstrom Pulse his Honor of the Pure (you know, as I recommend in my OWN PRIMER) but instead I Pulse both his Stalwarts. He plays Spectral Procession, I Jund Charm. He plays Wizened Cenn and Figure of Destiny (3/3's). I play Putrid Leech. He plays more 3/3's and kills me. I die with a Jund Charm in hand.

If I'd Pulsed Honor of the Pure, it might have gone something like this:

I Pulse his Honor of the Pure. He swings for 4 (8) then plays Spectral Procession. I play Jund Charm. He plays Wizened Cenn and Figure of Destiny (both 2/2's). I play Putrid Leech. He plays more 2/2's, and I Jund Charm.

I might not have WON the game, but it was a blunder on my part nonetheless. The only good part about that game is finding out how right I was that Pulsing Honor of the Pure is the right move in this matchup.

3-1.

I come third, win a few boosters, and head home happy. 3-1's a good result, and now I know for next time. I also found my Sable Stags (2 so far) and Firespouts, so next week I should have a sideboard. I'll keep tweaking the deck for the rotation, and get a fully-powered Jund deck soon enough.

Until next time, may you follow your own advice.

Tournament Report: August Week 1

There are a few advantages to getting your teammate to give you your deck at the event, but one major disadvantage. Unless you manage to get the answer out of him beforehand, you don't know what deck you'll be playing. As soon as I get all the cards for the Kithkin list I intend for that to change, and fast.

I showed up to the event, only to find that I would end up playing Five-Color Control, not exactly the deck of choice to play without testing. I became a bit more confident after demolishing Jeremy's Blightning deck in 3 straight games with it, however.

Quick aside: my team is composed of:

Me. I'd like to think I'm the best player out of the three, but I may be wrong. Adam's fairly skilled. My main problem is a lack of money so I can't play top-tier decks. This problem has been alleviated since I joined the team (the name is still up for debate).

Jeremy Tjaardstrada. I think that's how you spell it. Jeremy has a few competitive decks at any given time since he varies between playing them a lot. This is helpful for the team because we get to play a larger selection. He usually goes 1-3 or 2-2 at events though, and I routinely beat him. He's good, but he doesn't put in as much effort to seriously improve his game.

Adam Sesperez. A new addition to the team, me and Jeremy have known him for a while. He usually plays Merfolk or an artifact deck: he likes the Tier 2 strategies. No idea if that will change now or not. He's an experienced, skilled Magic player.

So I have a Five-Color Control deck with a suspicious lack of M10 tech (no Great Sable Stags in the SB, and no Bolts) and not all the choices I would have agreed with (no Anathemancer in the main, only one in the sideboard). But hey, what can you do, right? Pairings are drawn for Round 1 and we get underway.

Round 1 I play Jared Buellesbach. Jared is one of the better players at our store, but I've inched my way ahead of him slowly. He always plays an aggressive Red deck of some sort.

Game 1: He plays Vexing Shusher and Rise of the Hobgoblins(?). I Pulse his Shusher and take a few damage from the token. He Flame Javelins and bashes me to 13, at which point I drop a Broodmate Dragon. He uses a combination of a Mutavault and Redcap to kill my Broodmate Dragon, and I start swinging. He tries to Bolt my other one after blockers, but I Cryptic Command it, and bash him to 8. He tries for a Rise of the Hobgoblins, I Broken it and reveal a Broodmate. He concedes.

SB: In: 2 Jund Charm, 3 Firespout, 2 Celestial Purge. Out: 2 Hallowed Burial, 4 Mulldrifter, 1 Essence Scatter (remember, I'm unfamiliar with the deck. I'm almost certain these choices are wrong, but I don't know what was correct)

Game 2 we play land-go for a while. Turn 3 he lays a Dragon Fodder. I Jund Charm his guys in response to attackers, and he Javelins me to 16. He bashes me down to 13 with Ram-Gang, and on his second swing I cast Plumeveil to block. He Bolts it to finish it off. He plays a Shusher, and when he attacks I use another Plumeveil. He has nothing except Tattermunge Maniac, which he has to attack with. I block, and use EOT Esper Charm to draw two. I lay a Wall of Reverence, and at 13 life, about to gain 4 per turn, he concedes the match.

At this point I stop taking detailed notes and start taking briefer ones.

Round 2 I go up against Desmond Ng, a member of Team OMG, and a powerful opponent. Game 1 we have a long standoff, and I gain loads of life from double Wall of Reverence, until I stupidly go for a Cruel. He counters it, then Cruels me back, plays Ajani, blows up my lands, and plays Liliana. Faced with Broodmate death over the next 10 turns or so, I concede. That one was purely my fault.

I don't know what I SB'd out, but I sided in Anathemancer and Purges.

Game 2 is very uneventful. He plays Great Sable Stag and bashes me to death. My only answer is Hallowed Burial, which I don't find. I go to X-1.

Round 3 I go up against Justin Cheung, one of the top-rated players in Australia. Just my luck, eh? He's playing Five-Color Blood, though thanks to Gilt-Leaf Palace and Twilight Mire I think he's playing G/B Elves, then Jund Elves, then it finally sinks in halfway into Game 1. His Anathemancers hurt me quite badly, but I drop Obelisk of Alara and claw my way, agonisingly, to victory. It was a very long game, and we go to Game 2.

Game 2 he plays Great Sable Stag, then ANOTHER Great Sable Stag. I learnt my lesson and sided in Firespouts this time, but don't find them.

Game 3 I remember him playing a GSS and me Firespouting it, but little else. I got a Cruel off at some point, but that's the only damage I ever did to him and I got bashed to death.

Round 4, I'm now 1-2, and I go up against Tim Burke. Tim is a former National Champion, and an exceptionally good Legacy player, but he's not much for T2 anymore. Since there are no Legacy events where I live, he's getting back into it.

From the first turn I know what he's playing. As I expected, it's Elf Combo, the only Tier 1 deck that Standard and Legacy both play.

Game 1: He starts off with Nettle Sentinel, and I lay a couple of lands. He plays double Elvish Archdruid and I'm worried about him going off, but instead he bashes me for 11. I pray, and crack a Hallowed Burial off the top. He fights some more, but he's in topdeck mode and I play a Broodmate that gets there.

Game 2 I sideboard in Firespouts and Jund Charms for Plumeveils and Walls of Reverence.

He does well in this, but I draw about 3 sweepers. Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel get Jund Charmed, Ranger of Eos + 2 Llanowar Elves get hit with Firespout, and I have Hallowed Burial in reserve. I counter his Ranger of Eos #2, and bash him with Broodmate despite a Regal Force landing. I end the tournament 2-2. I come 6th, however, top of the 2-2's, since I played up in Rounds 2 and 3.

Then it's time for a wait before the draft. The draft is triple M10, which is good for me. I love to draft M10, and I'm pretty good at it. I usually end up with a U/B deck, but this draft may be different.

During the draft I open a Great Sable Stag first pack, first pick. So naturally, I take it. I get passed a green fattie, a decent red guy, and then, somehow, a Lightning Bolt fourth pick. I take this to mean red's wide open and set myself up for R/G.

Unfortunately, in Pack 2 it totally, TOTALLY dries up. I get almost nothing from this pack, and have to hope Pack 3 ties it together.

And boy does it. I crack Platinum Angel, which I draft instead of a great red card, because I absolutely could not resist. I also get passed some Craw Wurms, and an Enormous Baloth.

At the end of the draft I'm short a lot of playables and am forced to maindeck Dragon's Claw and Ignite Disorder. However I'm very confident that once it hits 6 mana my deck is unstoppable. I play 18 lands, including a Gargoyle Castle I was fortunate enough to grab. I have mixed feelings about my deck, but it's time to draft!

Match 1 I play Jarred Mack, a guy I haven't seen around before. Game 1, the deck works exactly as I expect. I take some early damage from Child of Night (he's playing B/R) before stabilising with a 3/3, and then start dropping Craw Wurms, Berserkers of Blood Ridge, and an Inferno Elemental. I start bashing him, but he clogs the ground. I drop Platinum Angel one turn, crack my Gargoyle the next turn, and it's all over in short order.

Game 2 was a long and difficult one. I mull to 6, and he keeps. We both get manascrewed, but me a bit more than him. I get Land 3 after a couple of turns, and start laying guys when I get a Forest. I gain about 8 life from Dragon's Claw in this game. We fight back and forth with creatures, him getting my 4/4 with a Kindled Fury. He plays Acolyte of Xathrid and Prodigal Pyromancer and starts pinging me. I play a Craw Wurm, but he drops Ball Lightning. I drop dangerously low, still being pinged, and have to block Lightning with Craw Wurm. I drop another one, and a Baloth, and I might win the race, but then he plays Wall of Bone to stop half my offence, and I lose.

Game 3, in an anticlimax, wasn't very fun. I mulliganed to 5 and didn't draw any good cards all game. He, on the other hand, curved out well and blew me over in short order.

Round 2, I play Desmond again, but I have a decent chance to beat him in Draft if I play well.

Game 1 we both play Awakener Druids. He kills mine, but I get it back with Nature's Spiral and Oakenform it after replaying it. A creature stall develops, and while I'm searching for a Platinum Angel to blow it open, he plays Overrun, and I die.

Game 2 we both keep. We start out playing small guys and trading a lot. I start getting guys out. I play a Baloth, and he Fireballs it for 7! I play a Craw Wurm which gets double blocked, then I topdeck Platinum Angel. I play it. He plays Overrun and swings. I drop to -2, and bash him to 7. I activate my Gargoyle Castle, giving him one turn to find a removal spell. He doesn't. On to Game 3!

In Game 3, he keeps, and I mulligan to 6. Not only that, I get stuck on 4 mana. I get my fifth in a couple of turns though, and begin playing big guys. In desperation, he Overruns, but I sac 3 creatures to kill 2 of his and take 6 from the last guy. I could have taken more but knew he had Fireball, so I was playing around it. I then play a Craw Wurm, and a Baloth, and he dies beneath my onslaught of giant men.

Round 3 I play Bret Willcocks. Bret's a fun guy to play, in Constructed and Limited. I usually beat him but occasionally he'll just blow me away.

Game 1 we both keep, and he's playing mono-blue. He plays a Snapping Drake and Alluring Siren, but I Ignite Disorder to kill both of them. I play a Craw Wurm, and he Clones it. I play another Craw Wurm, and our Craw Wurms trade. I pop a GC, and I've got the board advantage and win, despite his chump blocking with 1/1 fliers.

Game 2 I accidentally flip a Forest, revealing his secret sideboard plan. Not that I can do anything with the knowledge. However, to be fair I show him the Windstorm that I sided in. It's FNM so I don't get a game loss, but I do need to be more careful.

We both play small creatures, and a lot of trading happens as we fight back and forth, neither of us taking damage. I play a Craw Wurm but he Mind Controls it. I force a trade with my 4/4, and play another 4/4. From there I don't really know what happened. He just ran out of guys. One minute it was an even fight, the next I had him backpedalling. It was pretty weird, but I suppose someone at a higher level of skill than me would be able to identify what critical thing went wrong for Bret. (More on this topic in the strategy article tomorrow) And then the draft ends, and I'm 2-1.

It's a happy ending though, as the 2 OMG members who come 1st and 2nd already have playsets of Honor of the Pure, and the one who comes third takes Goblin Warchief for his deck, so I take a miracle 4th-pick Honor of the Pure, so I now have 2 out of the 4 I need.

All in all, it was a fairly good day, although 4-3 is actually a bit on the low spectrum for me: I usually go around 5-2. Still, I'm happy with my result, and especially with my Honor of the Pure, which I'll put to excellent use next Saturday.

Join me tomorrow, when I'll start talking Magic strategy.

Until next time, may your topdecks be awesome and your play be spot-on.

Magic: The Blogging

Greetings to all the Magic: the Gathering players out there! My name is Jay Bailey, and my handle is Salivanth. I've played the game for a few years, am a very good local player (though not too good in the wider community), an experienced writer, and a quasi-experienced blogger. I do have another blog, which is linked to here, but it's not about Magic: The Gathering. It is, instead, about personal growth and development, one of my two passions (the other being, of course, Magic).

I have actually wanted to start this blog for several weeks now, but haven't been sure I have something unique or even useful to say. However, trawling the blogosphere, I've noticed a lack of good Magic strategy on blogs. There's lots of great strategy. There's lots of blogs. But the two rarely come together. So I'm here to make that union.

My aim is to provide my readers with daily, high-quality, original, and personable Magic: The Gathering content, tech and strategy. Nothing less to me will suffice (although quality may take some time to emerge as I get used to blogging about Magic.)

Most Magic blog posts are short. I'm a fairly verbose blogger, generally averaging 600-1000 words per blog post (at least on my first blog). I'll be covering a wide range of topic, from spoilers of new sets to tournament reports, to deck ideas. A link to my Magic: The Gathering-only Twitter account can be found here.

I go to FNM on Saturday (I live in Australia) so tomorrow I should be bringing you a tournament report as a post. After that we'll delve into the bottomless pit of Magic: The Gathering strategy. I can hardly wait!

My favourite, and by far most prolific format is Standard. I almost never venture into Extended, Legacy or Vintage, but am a halfway-decent Limited player. I LOVE drafting M10, and always end up with blue/black decks somehow. I also like drafting Shards/Conflux/Reborn, though not as much as M10. I usually end up Esper since only 2 Esper drafters are usually at the table, so I score lots of good stuff.

I'm currently playing a Kithkin deck, but it's a bit up in the air since M10 rotated in. Here's the decklist I hacked out:

20 Plains

4 Windbrisk Heights

4 Figure of Destiny

4 Wizened Cenn

4 Knight of Meadowgrain

4 Cloudgoat Ranger

3 Captain of the Watch

2 Goldmeadow Stalwart

4 Honor of the Pure

4 Spectral Procession

3 Ajani Goldmane

2 Path to Exile

2 Harm's Way

Sideboard:

4 Ethersworn Canonist

3 Stillmoon Cavalier

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender

2 Ranger of Eos

2 Harm's Way

1 Path to Exile

Notes on the deck:

Captain of the Watch: The Captain is just sick to flip off a Windbrisk Heights. He may cost 6 mana, but that's only one more than Cloudgoat, and he's excellent against Control. A control deck HAS to Wrath this guy, or die in short order.

I cut the Stalwarts since I didn't believe they were as useful as other cards in the deck especially since Turn 1 I was using Windbrisk Heights anyway.

No Mutavaults: I almost never activate them. 0 Mutavaults may not be the objectively correct decision, but it works for my playstyle. I've played about 40-50 games with the deck, and lost a couple of games because of Mutavault stopping WWW for Spectral...but I've never won a game thanks to Mutavault.

Harm's Way: Harm's Way is THE BOMB. Especially against Red decks. Nobody expects it. They don't play around it. It is just as good as Path to Exile, and including 2 of each makes my opponents play around both. I think HW may even be BETTER than Path as long as people don't expect it, hence the 3 Paths total, and the 4 Harm's Way total.

Ranger of Eos: Ranger of Eos into 3 BFT's spells death for the Red deck. Also, searching for Figures makes for great Wrath resistance. At 6 mana, a single Figure becomes an 8/8 deathstick in just 2 turns.

The rest of the deck choices are fairly obvious, so I won't present notes on them. Everyone knows Figure of Destiny is awesome, me saying it is irrelevant.

Wow, that's a long post. I think that basically wraps it up as an introduction.

The blog is going to be a pretty lacklustre effort for up to a week while I get everything running. I'm not Superman, it may take a few days to make everything start to work.

Until next time, may you make a good beginnning.