We've Got No Time For Plan B

Alright, so RNG is a thing. Further online testing with the combination of It Sucks To Suck and Trash Truck (now called It Sucks To Truck) has been very positive. 

I've even teched up a sideboard, just to give it a little extra workout. 

Coutnerpoint; the testing has been very limited. I've been sick the past week, so I've just gotten to play online, and Fuz has been working on a deck of his own. 

So my sample size has been small, but the feel of the deck has been pretty good. 

Current SB-untested as of yet but-

4 Force of Despair
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Pyroblast
3 Meltdown

I'm going to keep testing this. 

3-1

Quite the turnaround, right?

Rd 1 vs Ryan on dredge

Game 1: I got to see the deck in action, as he used Ichorids to create Cabal Therapy fodder and make 8 zombie tokens and a Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis.

Game 2: He vomited a portion of his library into his graveyard on his turn 1, and on my next turn I put out a Dauthi Voidwalker. That gave me enough time to get creatures on the board and pressure him down.

I did miss a Dark Confidant trigger, and that ended up costing me-the judge ruled I should resolve the ability after I’d drawn (and I’d drawn a land) but the next card was Sheoldred. Four needless damage in a matchup that could have easily gone the other way. 

Game 3: His turn 1 was great, putting a Troll into the GY after a Faithless Looting that had been flashed back. My turn 1 was Bojuka Bog.

After that, he was in topdeck mode and I was putting permanents into play, until I got a Sheoldred and an Orcish Bowmasters out. Then I was able to double Burning Inquiry into the win.

First win!

Rd 2 vs Robin on Yorion 4 color C

Game 1: I got put down by a Minsc and Boo. Really good card is good. 

Game 2: Blood Moon on turn 3 let me play my cards, and Robin was locked out of the game at that point. I was able to press the advantage.

Game 3: while I had a Dauthi Voidwalker, a Liliana and a Blood Moon, Robin was able to hang in there with a Teferi and The One Ring. They played to their outs by getting basic lands on the table as fast as they could, so were still able to interact-just slower. Once they were able to Minsc and Boo out my Liliana (the turn before ultimate!) and I drew 3 lands in a row, there was no coming back for me.

Tough loss but Robin earned it. 

Rd 3 vs Brandon on Merfolk

Game 1: Tide Shaper turned my Badlands into an Island which meant he got free attacks in until I died. I had a hand full of removal, but didn’t draw into any action.

Game 2: I was able to resolve a Plague Engineer to stabilize the board. At 3 life I played a Bowmasters to take out the lords that kept his army boosted. He conceded after that.

Game 3: Bowmasters on deck: they did work with Burning Inquiry to keep his army down, and I was able to get the concession shortly after.

Rd 4 vs Chris on Yorion Grixis control

Game 1: I got pushed out by his card draw and multiple Thoughtsieze.

Game 2: With two Dauthi Voidwalkers out, I was able to press my advantage. He made a critical mistake, trying to Bowmaster my Voidwalker and block it, forgetting it had shadow. I was able to close the game shortly after.

Game 3: Chris was stuck on two lands, so I grew an Army off a Bowmaster to 4, via Burning Inquiry. With the Lighting Bolts blanked, and a Buccaneer to add to the damage, and was able to win after that!

Here's my takeaways:

First, it's fucking hard to win games of Magic. I am realizing that people really have to focus on the game as all but a full time job if they want to reach winning records with regularity. 

That's OK, but also it feels pretty damn gratifying to post a winning record. 

Second: I absolutely had good matchups. My deck is practically pre-engineered to create problems for graveyard based strategies or typal decks. On the one hand: I won matches that I should have. On the other: there is so damn much blue-based control out there that it's hard to pull those matches out.

Still, week two's showing was pretty good! 

Round Two (2023)

 Here's what I'm taking into tomorrow's event. 

2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
2 Tourach, Dread Cantor
3 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Dauthi Voidwalker
3 Dark Confidant

3 Dream Salvage
4 Sudden Edict
2 Sheoldred's Edict

4 Mountain
4 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blood Crypt
4 Badlands
1 Wasteland

3 Liliana of the Veil

3 Reforge the Soul
4 Burning Inquiry

// 15 Sideboard
SB: 4 Plague Engineer

SB: 3 Blood Moon

SB: 4 Pyroblast

SB: 4 Meltdown

As much as I like Magus of the Wheel, as a creature that takes a turn to get action out of, I don't believe it's going to help me. So I'm going with ye olde Dark Confidant because drawing cards is awesome.

I've also upped the Dauthi Voidwalkers for Waste Not, and added in a Wasteland. I flailed around for days trying to figure out a substitute for Blood Moon, but just haven't come up with anything. I considered Surgical Extraction but I have a lot of maindeck graveyard removal. 

What I need are things to muck up the early game and Blood Moon can do that, though I'm also still thinking about a fourth Plague Engineer. Still I'm sticking with it for now.

0-3-1

So here's how things went:

Match 1 vs Connor, Cephalid Breakfast

Game 1: He had a T2 Stoneforge Mystic to fetch the Shuko, and a turn 3 Illusionist. The triggers happened and he won via Thassa's Oracle. 

Game 2: I was able to get out a Buccaneer while he set up, and got him down to 10, but knowing he had an Illusionist in hand, I tapped out to Reforge the Soul, as I had one card in hand.

He discarded the illusionist, but drew into another one and that was it.

Match 2 vs Shawn on D&T

Game 1: Samwise was used to recur Wasteland and take care of my mana base in short order. Though I was able to use Bowmasters to take out a Thalia and a Sam, I didn’t have removal for the Stoneforge Mystic that brought Kaldra Compleat into play, nor a response for the Karakas bouncing my Tourach.

Game 2: I played two Burning Inquiries which lead to me drawing 11 of my 22 lands.

Things did not go well after that.

Match 3 vs Ben on Sharkstill

Game 1: My deck did the thing! I had Buccaneer out and with a wheel effect, did enough damage to win.

Game 2: When he cast The Wandering Emperor, I realized I had sideboarded incorrectly; he had too many basic lands for Blood Moon to be relevant. The moon took me off BB which I needed for multiple cards in hand, and that was enough for him to take the edge.

Game 3: I made a huge mistake on turn 4, when I had a Plague Engineer out on Servo to keep the Retrofitter Foundry in check. I swing in, not realizing that he had enough mana to make a 2/2 Construct token via Urza's Saga for us to trade.

“Well, I’ll just draw another!”

I did not draw another.

My last game was against Matt, who is a buddy I play with frequently. He runs a Parfait variant that he's been working on for years so I know the matchup well.

In the first game he was able to create all the construct tokens and won.  

So I just brought in four Meltdowns and proceeded to do one-sided boardwipes when I could. Unfortunately, it still took me a long time to get there and while I won that game, we had one minute to play a third and tied. 

What did I learn?

First; four copies of Reforge the Soul are too many. I'll be cutting one, since this isn't a card I want to see in my opening grip.

Second, as much as I like Waste Not, I just don't know that I can spend time setting up like that. Against non-Blue prison style decks, sure but there are just better things to be doing and I should find them. Because there are a lot of Blue decks on Fridays. 

Third, it might be worth incorporating Wastelands into this deck. As a two color deck, the drawback should be minimal. Similarly, Geiger Reach Sanitarium might have a place.

Finally, I'm not certain Blood Moon is not the answer I need in the sideboard. In all of my matchups, graveyard removal would've been just as, if not more useful. Certainly, the Dauthi Voidwalkers represented issues when they were out. 

Trash Truck (But Buffer)

Alright, here's the more muscular version of Trash Truck:

2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

3 Magus of the Wheel
2 Tourach, Dread Cantor
3 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
4 Orcish Bowmasters
2 Dauthi Voidwalker

2 Waste Not

3 Dream Salvage
4 Sudden Edict
2 Sheoldred's Edict

4 Mountain
4 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blood Crypt
4 Badlands

3 Liliana of the Veil

4 Reforge the Soul
4 Burning Inquiry

 15 Sideboard
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void

SB: 4 Pyroblast

SB: 4 Meltdown

I am still unsure about the Sideboard: Pyroblast vs Defense Grid is the dilemma. Pyroblast can interact on the stack and remove troublesome permanents but my goldfishing with Trash Truck has suggested that the mana is tight. Would it just be better to try and insulate my turns? 

Somewhere along the line, I realized that Bojuka Bog and Daluthi Voidwalker would be great proactive answers to filling someone's graveyard and they were maindeckable, so here we are. This could mean that I'm going too hard on Leyline of the Void in the Sideboard, and that might mean there's more room for something else? Most likely Plague Engineer. 

Trash Truck

 I'm going to have two versions of this deck, the first is the one I will revert back to:

2 Elixir of Immortality

2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
3 Magus of the Wheel
2 Shocker
2 Tourach, Dread Cantor
3 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
3 Orcish Bowmasters

2 Waste Not

3 Dream Salvage
4 Terminate

10 Mountain
8 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Rakdos Carnarium 

3 Liliana of the Veil

4 Reforge the Soul
4 Burning Inquiry

This is the fun take on the deck. The manabase isn't set for a tournament build, Shocker is clearly not up to snuff when it comes to power, Elixir of Immortality is me trying to hedge against decking, a situation that is 99% unlikely to happen, and Terminate, as great of a card as it is, needs to be a stronger removal spell. These are just a few of the small details that I'll want to change to shift this from my kitchen table deck to one for an event.

But hopefully you can see the core of the deck, using Tourach, Dread Cantor, Glint-Horn Buccaneer and Waste Not to give me rewards for discarding, while Orcish Bowmasters and Sheoldred the Apocalypse provides rewards for the drawing portion of Burning Inquiry, Reforge the Soul and Magus of the Wheel.

Is this some jank? Hell yes. But it's synergistic jank. 

The second take on Trash Truck is what I'm taking to the Mox events starting on the 28th, and I'll go over the changes to the deck, along with a Sideboard, on Thursday.