Once More

Here we go again:

5 Swamp
7 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Bojuka Bog
4 Twilight Mire

3 Duress
4 Putrefy
4 Rancor
3 Distress
4 Doom Blade

1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Troll Ascetic
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Thragtusk
3 Predator Ooze
2 Strangleroot Geist
3 Vault Skirge

SB: 3 Underworld Dreams
SB: 4 Torpor Orb
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Sudden Spoiling
SB: 2 Rootgrapple

I don't want to give up on Predator Ooze but perhaps I should. It seems like anything that gets bigger and is damn near invulnerable would be good, right? But between Path to Exile and Karn, it just seems silly.

Then again, I am considering Massacre Wurm in my sideboard. This is an awful idea, merely because I have no reliable way to cast the card on turn six, which if I need it, I absolutely have to be able to do. One issue is that Rootgrapple just isn't cutting it at all. My thoughts for secret tech? Aether Snap. Stonethorn has been thinking that BW tokens is going to be big, while I keep running into planeswalkers. This kills both of those. The trick, as always, is getting those spells to resolve and I just don't know that I've got enough discard to ensure that happens.

This deck also might suffer from being a bit off theme. Hypnotic Specter fits in better than Vault Skirge, but Vault Skirge turn one, Rancor turn 2 is pretty amazing. Getting in early beats and gaining life is very important when facing aggressive decks, which I still believe will be out there.

I'm feeling desperate. Maybe that shows? I don't have the resources to play an 'established' deck, nor do I want to. I want to play a deck I like and am reasonably comfortable with, because I feel that those things might be the only edge I really have. And damnit, money shouldn't be the defining characteristic of a good Magic deck...but I accept it is part of the game.

While I have been practicing and testing and I feel my gameplay is getting better, I am not a pro Magic player. This is not to say that I'm going to just cut my losses, this is about being realistic about what I need to do to win.

And I would like to win. Stonethorn and I had a brief conversation about that last night, when he questioned running Ulamog, because it felt like 'win more'. I responded with: when it's just us playing, it's fine to be suboptimal. In the tournament, you're there to win, and you can cast Ulamog and win of him. Do it.

I fear I may be too attached to my 'ideas' to actually make those cutthroat decisions about card selection. But damnit, these things don't seem bad. I've had people choke on Predator Ooze because their removal wasn't enough. Plus, it blanks out most destroy effects. Same with Thragtusk: I run that because it creates such problems for anyone running removal. I love Blood Moon but as Noah pointed out: I don't want to run a deck that's 56 other cards that support Blood Moon. That's a terrible deck.

No deck can do everything though: that's impossible. My goal is to eliminate all the decks that I don't think will be played and focus on what will be played and how to beat that. Choose wisely, as they say.