Despite the record, I had a pretty good time at the SCG Legacy event last Sunday. This is entirely due to me deciding; Fuck it, let's play some games.
As a result, I never felt too riled up or fell into tilt when things didn't go my way. What's the point? I'm here to play some games. Let's go.
I faced BUG Delver decks twice and lost both of those matchups, in both cases because none of my sideboard cards (Choke and Pernicious Deed) appeared. I would win games-especially games where I was able to establish tempo, usually with discard or Tangle Wire-but if I couldn't get something established, I found myself on the bad end of cheap countermagic.
I also played against two Junk decks, (BWG running Stoneforge Mystic). I lost one of those matchups and this was where the first of my two big mistakes of the day kicked in. It's Match 2, game 2 and I'm at 7 life. My opponent has a Stoneforge with Jitte and Sword of Fire and Ice equipped. I have 4 mana, Natural Order, and no creatures.
Draw Khalni Garden, create Plant, Natural Order for...Progenitus. I recognize my mistake shortly after saying "Go," and surveying the board: Progenitus is red and blue, and Sword of Fire and Ice offers protection from those colors. The correct play would have been to go for Sylvan Primordal, destroy Jitte and then begin to wait for a Pernicious Deed.
The Junk deck I defeated? That was how I did it, although it came a little later in the game. My opponent, Adam, was very unhappy about this, grumpily signing his match slip and insisting how terrible this day was, complaining "I eliminate your hand and you topdeck into wins."
Well, that's one possibility or it could be that I kept your manabase to 3 lands maximum, forced you to discard your most potent threats, including Batterskull and Liliana, and you couldn't kill any of my creatures so my Gaea's Cradle stayed active and once I had 7 mana, dropping the topdecked Primordal to destroy your sole source of white mana really was a good idea.
If you're pissed off at the tournament, you should just drop and go home, instead of being a grouch.
I also beat a Miracles deck, again using discard to delay their board presence and Krosan Grip in game 2 to stop Divining Top activations.
My last matchup of the day was against Burn and in again in game 2, I made my second critical mistake of the day: down to 10 life and with Natural Order and two Eternal Witness in my hand, I decide that I should Natural Order, again, into Progenitus. I felt the clock would matter more, and I'd already seen one Price of Progress for 8, so why get Thragtusk?
I am promptly PoP'd down to zero. My opponent helpfully recommended that if he has a full grip, it's always better to go for lifegain and I nod, accepting that I made a mistake, thinking I could put more pressure on him than he could on me.
I think I let Progenitus go to my head; the card is so powerful that I would just presume that if I got it, I'd win. That did happen a couple times during the day but I started to rely on it too much and didn't quite use all my brainpower to get out of the jams I found myself in.
Still, a good day all and all and a good learning experience. I have some solid ideas about where to take this deck in the future, should I want to align myself that way.
Showing posts with label new world disorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new world disorder. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Post Op (part 1)
My games with Ratchet have been similar to my games with Golden Blunders, interestingly.
Against a UB deck with milling and Jace's Phantasm, I just got wiped out. I was milled, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was Killing Wave. In both games, I chose to lose a significant amount of life (10 in game one, 6 in game 2) and yet still found myself taking 5 in the air, my opponent easily able to afford the Norn's Annex payment.
At this point I'm pretty concerned because I've only won a game when my opponent was color screwed. That is not a successful sign. We keep going, just to see how bad it is,
In game 4 I won because I was able to generate enough cat tokens and pressure; Killing Wave for 4 didn't do enough to keep me from attacking for 8 each turn.
Game 5 I was under early pressure from the Phantasm then casting an Annex put me down to 3 life. I managed to Scourglass but a Glimpse the Unthinkable put me down to 6 cards left in my library. I was able to use two Shrines to generate Myr tokens and increase the pressure. In the end, he was blocking with Glacial Wall while I was attacking with 6 Myr a turn and I pull out the matchup, 3 games to 2.
In another set of games, one versus a goblins deck which was fast but not super fast, and another green/black zombies, I kept finding myself with Soulscour in hand. Two of them, unable to cast either. I lost both matchups. Badly.
Similarly, with Golden Blunders, I would find Jin-Gitaxis in hand--two of them--and be unable to use either in my early builds. (That still happens, just not as often.)
It rains and it pours, I suppose but it's not just weird to find circumstances repeating, (two of the same uncastable card) it's frustrating.
Now, on the other side, I was playing Golden Blunders against a mono-white construction stonethorn had. He was using Mycosynth Wellspring to boost his mana. (I lost the games with Golden Blunders; repeated resets are bad, even for creatures with protection from White. Once again: two Jin in hand because my mana ramp had been neutered.)
But I had a similar problem: I needed mana for Ratchet and I wasn't getting enough to cast Soulscour if needed.
Then the light bulb went off. Out came the Razor Golems, which was a hard choice to make because I really liked the way they fit in the deck, and in went three Mycosynth Wellspring and one Spine of Ish Sah. My reasoning went like this: If my opponent doesn't have any artifacts, then my Divine Offerings aren't useless. For four mana I could get two lands and gain two life: this is a pretty good deal!
But in the later game, I could destroy someone's best permanent, gain seven life, then destroy their next best permanent!
Sure, this is probably Magic Christmas but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
With New World Disorder, I had a Eureka moment. The kind that makes me feel like I'm on my mojo. That moment was Hornet Queen. I'm not upset that I overlooked that card, trying to horn Avenger of Zendikar in there because it's just such a rare card (ha-ha!) to see in Green. It fits perfectly though: it ramps up the Gaea's Cradle, it creates difficult to block attackers and creates a huge problem as blockers for opponents. Even better, with a Fangren Firstborn these creatures become expedient paths to victory.
People, if you play Legacy or Casual Magic, pay a lot of attention to the non-Standard sets. Commander and Planeshift 2012 have a great deal to offer.
I pulled off a Hornet Queen against a GB deck, after destroying a Golgari Rot Farm, and pulled ahead with a Wildspeaker/Tangle Wire combo in game one. Great Sable Stag was immune to the removal and I rode it to the win. Unfortunately I didn't get any further games.
But against stonethorn's aforementioned mono-W angels deck, I went 2-0. The Hornet Queen never came out, instead the team of Silklash Spider and Woodfall Primus, coupled with Wastelands, were there to suppress mana and when Judgement was rendered, the Primuses (Primi? Primusseses? Primus 2 the Primining?) stomped on a couple more Plains and swung for 5 until the angels were no more.
stonethorn seemed worried after that matchup: "I've never had it go so badly before!"
Don't worry about it, I said, I've been working on this deck for 15 years.
Against a UB deck with milling and Jace's Phantasm, I just got wiped out. I was milled, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was Killing Wave. In both games, I chose to lose a significant amount of life (10 in game one, 6 in game 2) and yet still found myself taking 5 in the air, my opponent easily able to afford the Norn's Annex payment.
At this point I'm pretty concerned because I've only won a game when my opponent was color screwed. That is not a successful sign. We keep going, just to see how bad it is,
In game 4 I won because I was able to generate enough cat tokens and pressure; Killing Wave for 4 didn't do enough to keep me from attacking for 8 each turn.
Game 5 I was under early pressure from the Phantasm then casting an Annex put me down to 3 life. I managed to Scourglass but a Glimpse the Unthinkable put me down to 6 cards left in my library. I was able to use two Shrines to generate Myr tokens and increase the pressure. In the end, he was blocking with Glacial Wall while I was attacking with 6 Myr a turn and I pull out the matchup, 3 games to 2.
In another set of games, one versus a goblins deck which was fast but not super fast, and another green/black zombies, I kept finding myself with Soulscour in hand. Two of them, unable to cast either. I lost both matchups. Badly.
Similarly, with Golden Blunders, I would find Jin-Gitaxis in hand--two of them--and be unable to use either in my early builds. (That still happens, just not as often.)
It rains and it pours, I suppose but it's not just weird to find circumstances repeating, (two of the same uncastable card) it's frustrating.
Now, on the other side, I was playing Golden Blunders against a mono-white construction stonethorn had. He was using Mycosynth Wellspring to boost his mana. (I lost the games with Golden Blunders; repeated resets are bad, even for creatures with protection from White. Once again: two Jin in hand because my mana ramp had been neutered.)
But I had a similar problem: I needed mana for Ratchet and I wasn't getting enough to cast Soulscour if needed.
Then the light bulb went off. Out came the Razor Golems, which was a hard choice to make because I really liked the way they fit in the deck, and in went three Mycosynth Wellspring and one Spine of Ish Sah. My reasoning went like this: If my opponent doesn't have any artifacts, then my Divine Offerings aren't useless. For four mana I could get two lands and gain two life: this is a pretty good deal!
But in the later game, I could destroy someone's best permanent, gain seven life, then destroy their next best permanent!
Sure, this is probably Magic Christmas but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
With New World Disorder, I had a Eureka moment. The kind that makes me feel like I'm on my mojo. That moment was Hornet Queen. I'm not upset that I overlooked that card, trying to horn Avenger of Zendikar in there because it's just such a rare card (ha-ha!) to see in Green. It fits perfectly though: it ramps up the Gaea's Cradle, it creates difficult to block attackers and creates a huge problem as blockers for opponents. Even better, with a Fangren Firstborn these creatures become expedient paths to victory.
People, if you play Legacy or Casual Magic, pay a lot of attention to the non-Standard sets. Commander and Planeshift 2012 have a great deal to offer.
I pulled off a Hornet Queen against a GB deck, after destroying a Golgari Rot Farm, and pulled ahead with a Wildspeaker/Tangle Wire combo in game one. Great Sable Stag was immune to the removal and I rode it to the win. Unfortunately I didn't get any further games.
But against stonethorn's aforementioned mono-W angels deck, I went 2-0. The Hornet Queen never came out, instead the team of Silklash Spider and Woodfall Primus, coupled with Wastelands, were there to suppress mana and when Judgement was rendered, the Primuses (Primi? Primusseses? Primus 2 the Primining?) stomped on a couple more Plains and swung for 5 until the angels were no more.
stonethorn seemed worried after that matchup: "I've never had it go so badly before!"
Don't worry about it, I said, I've been working on this deck for 15 years.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Away and Home again
I'll be on the road starting this weekend through Wednesday, which means I won't have an opportunity to play much Magic. Since that's the case, I'll take the next week to re-play the decks from the past few weeks, including more work on Ratchet, the acquisition of cards to change Late For The Kill, further tests with Look Up, the exploration of a Eureka! moment I had for New World Disorder, and the cultivation of hydras in Golden Blunders.
I may not have much to talk about even next Thursday but hopefully there will be some Magic news to discuss, perhaps even the necessity to eat humble pie on my evaluation of Rakdos. Possibly G/W decks too because everyone seems to be all funny in the pants about Populate but...I still don't see it and the data from last week's States event convince me to change my mind. While I did see quite a few RBG and mono-Red decks I didn't see many people trying to push a mechanic.
What I know now, that I didn't when I wrote about Return to Ravnica, is that all of the guilds will have their mechanic extended in the third set. This could be the 'missing piece' to help boost those mechanics into a more heavyweight position and I look forward to it.
I may not have much to talk about even next Thursday but hopefully there will be some Magic news to discuss, perhaps even the necessity to eat humble pie on my evaluation of Rakdos. Possibly G/W decks too because everyone seems to be all funny in the pants about Populate but...I still don't see it and the data from last week's States event convince me to change my mind. While I did see quite a few RBG and mono-Red decks I didn't see many people trying to push a mechanic.
What I know now, that I didn't when I wrote about Return to Ravnica, is that all of the guilds will have their mechanic extended in the third set. This could be the 'missing piece' to help boost those mechanics into a more heavyweight position and I look forward to it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Yo, We Down For Survival
This deck is making me angry: It should work but the cards that let the deck work don't show.
For example, versus Fuz's mono-white not-exactly-weenie deck:
Game 1 was brutal: my anti-Wrath tech in hand, wrath turn 4, I was left with nothing and scrubbed three times on a Scroll effect vs Student of Warfare with only two cards in hand. He cast Hero of Bladehold, swung at me for 11 and that was that.
Sigh.
In game 2, things were looking grim vs 2 Students, but with a Tangle Wire and a Firstborn, I brought the house. My mini overrun had me attacking for 8 then 11 and I got a concession.
Neither of these games were even close so I was hoping for more data in the final game. It wasn't meant to be.
I had a turn four Tangle Wire but with no way to follow it up. There was a Disenchant at the beginning of his turn, which I hoped would be good for me but instead I found myself with no further mana development and two Woodfall Primus in hand.
Turn 4 saw the Wrath, after he swung at me for 23, connecting with 11 of that. This was a huge mistake on my part, because I had enough blockers to kill almost all his creatures and still mount an offense but I chose not to block.
The only reason to bring the house is because he either had Wrath of God or was bluffing Wrath of God. If he has it, then why give up the life? If he doesn't have it, I've just decimated his side of the board and I still have a way to keep the pressure on, so again: why give up the life?
Instead, I saw two Calvary Masters and that led to my quick demise.
Maybe nobody ever blocks but double flanking ensures nobody will even try.
Last night against what appeared to be a mostly-black, hint blue zombie deck stonethorn made and game one I got to see every mana elf I played executed in fine style. With a Tangle Wire out, I used two Wastelands to cut off his blue and didn't see another land the rest of the game. Worse, I had five cards in hand while trying to activate Cursed Scroll to get a Blood Artist off the table. That...didn't work out.
The Tangle Wire went away, I couldn't keep a creature on the board nor get to 4 mana and down I went.
Games two and three went a bit differently though: game two had me working the Tangle Wire lockout and attacking with tiny creatures + Fangren Firstborn. Game three had a critical error when I Natural Ordered up a Woodfall Primus against his Diregraf Captain, destroying a Darkslick Shores.
His response? Give Captain super deathtouch and force me to block, which gave me a 5/5 creature and him one less land.
My next turn had a Tangle Wire; stonethorn's grip included Phyrexian Obliterators. Plural. That...would have been bad for me.
Instead, the Wire kept his lands tapped down and I kept after him with a 5/5 until I won. Why am I so unhappy, then?
Because between the first game and my goldfishing with this deck, I never feel like I'm getting the card I need. I felt I lacked enough creatures for Gaea's Cradle so I added two Khalni Garden. I didn't like how Silklash Spider was so situational so one got cut for an Avenger of Zendikar. The interaction between Wickerbough Elder and Fangren Firstborn wasn't good so I cut one for an Acidic Slime. Finally, I added an Overrun, removing a Fangren Firstborn because sometimes: trample and 3/3 is more difficult to handle than a creature that can be killed.
Yet I still draw my 7 and feel like, oh crap I am not going to pull this off. I don't get enough lands or I don't get enough creatures or I can't get an I win spell!
There's a tickle in the back of my head that says Cursed Scroll is to blame. Something at the two or three mana spot that other decks will hate. I just don't know what it is yet.
For example, versus Fuz's mono-white not-exactly-weenie deck:
Game 1 was brutal: my anti-Wrath tech in hand, wrath turn 4, I was left with nothing and scrubbed three times on a Scroll effect vs Student of Warfare with only two cards in hand. He cast Hero of Bladehold, swung at me for 11 and that was that.
Sigh.
Neither of these games were even close so I was hoping for more data in the final game. It wasn't meant to be.
I had a turn four Tangle Wire but with no way to follow it up. There was a Disenchant at the beginning of his turn, which I hoped would be good for me but instead I found myself with no further mana development and two Woodfall Primus in hand.
Turn 4 saw the Wrath, after he swung at me for 23, connecting with 11 of that. This was a huge mistake on my part, because I had enough blockers to kill almost all his creatures and still mount an offense but I chose not to block.
The only reason to bring the house is because he either had Wrath of God or was bluffing Wrath of God. If he has it, then why give up the life? If he doesn't have it, I've just decimated his side of the board and I still have a way to keep the pressure on, so again: why give up the life?
Instead, I saw two Calvary Masters and that led to my quick demise.
Maybe nobody ever blocks but double flanking ensures nobody will even try.
Last night against what appeared to be a mostly-black, hint blue zombie deck stonethorn made and game one I got to see every mana elf I played executed in fine style. With a Tangle Wire out, I used two Wastelands to cut off his blue and didn't see another land the rest of the game. Worse, I had five cards in hand while trying to activate Cursed Scroll to get a Blood Artist off the table. That...didn't work out.
The Tangle Wire went away, I couldn't keep a creature on the board nor get to 4 mana and down I went.
His response? Give Captain super deathtouch and force me to block, which gave me a 5/5 creature and him one less land.
My next turn had a Tangle Wire; stonethorn's grip included Phyrexian Obliterators. Plural. That...would have been bad for me.
Instead, the Wire kept his lands tapped down and I kept after him with a 5/5 until I won. Why am I so unhappy, then?
Because between the first game and my goldfishing with this deck, I never feel like I'm getting the card I need. I felt I lacked enough creatures for Gaea's Cradle so I added two Khalni Garden. I didn't like how Silklash Spider was so situational so one got cut for an Avenger of Zendikar. The interaction between Wickerbough Elder and Fangren Firstborn wasn't good so I cut one for an Acidic Slime. Finally, I added an Overrun, removing a Fangren Firstborn because sometimes: trample and 3/3 is more difficult to handle than a creature that can be killed.
Yet I still draw my 7 and feel like, oh crap I am not going to pull this off. I don't get enough lands or I don't get enough creatures or I can't get an I win spell!
There's a tickle in the back of my head that says Cursed Scroll is to blame. Something at the two or three mana spot that other decks will hate. I just don't know what it is yet.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Never Satisfied
This one was weird but: as an experiment I NO'd into Vorinclex with a Tangle Wire in hand. The game went quickly which is good but I'm not sure if that's a testament to the power of Tangle Wire or Vorinclex.
Game two, I mulliganed to 5 but Karsa's deck was taking too long to set up. It's a 5 color monster if it gets going but nothing is happening and even though I start off with only Elf, Rofellos, once I get a Fangren Firstborn followed by a Tangle Wire, it's over fast.
Still, I think I'm going to cut down to one Vorinclex, to add in some some more juice: one Natural Order, one...I don't know what, yet. The slot is currently inhabited by Symbiotic Wurm and that's not bad but it's also not scary. I just haven't seen the 'oh crap' monster yet that doesn't have 'protection from everything'. But one Vorinclex should work, since in the games when he's useful, he's super useful.
Game two, I mulliganed to 5 but Karsa's deck was taking too long to set up. It's a 5 color monster if it gets going but nothing is happening and even though I start off with only Elf, Rofellos, once I get a Fangren Firstborn followed by a Tangle Wire, it's over fast.
Still, I think I'm going to cut down to one Vorinclex, to add in some some more juice: one Natural Order, one...I don't know what, yet. The slot is currently inhabited by Symbiotic Wurm and that's not bad but it's also not scary. I just haven't seen the 'oh crap' monster yet that doesn't have 'protection from everything'. But one Vorinclex should work, since in the games when he's useful, he's super useful.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Your order can't plan for everything
Playing NWD against a mono-B infect deck and a U/B Tezzeret deck. The game goes long and the board gets messy; poison counters, Planeswalkers, and me with ten Saproling tokens before my Verdant Force gets killed.
The questionable Wickerbough Elder comes up a card I've been questionable about but can use at the moment through a Torpor Orb to destroy the U/B player's artifacts. I wreck a Wurmcoil Engine to make the creatures more manageable.
The Infect player drops a Fume Spitter which at this point in the game does nothing for him, but he announces the ability anyway.
I tell him: hey, if you give my Elder a -1 counter, I can destroy another artifact, which he does, and I do.
I still lost that game but this story demonstrates why it's so hard to take cards out of my decks; crazy situations come up and I need them! Which is awesome and why I play the game: there really is no way to predict what you're going to deal with and no matter how good my deck is, there's situations where it's terrible and I have to figure out how to get out of a bad scene.
Of course, I may remember this story long after I've been repeatedly burned by being unable to use the Elder because I was attacking with Fengren Firstborn, so it's important for me to not take this as Evidence that Elder is excellent.
The questionable Wickerbough Elder comes up a card I've been questionable about but can use at the moment through a Torpor Orb to destroy the U/B player's artifacts. I wreck a Wurmcoil Engine to make the creatures more manageable.
The Infect player drops a Fume Spitter which at this point in the game does nothing for him, but he announces the ability anyway.
I tell him: hey, if you give my Elder a -1 counter, I can destroy another artifact, which he does, and I do.
I still lost that game but this story demonstrates why it's so hard to take cards out of my decks; crazy situations come up and I need them! Which is awesome and why I play the game: there really is no way to predict what you're going to deal with and no matter how good my deck is, there's situations where it's terrible and I have to figure out how to get out of a bad scene.
Of course, I may remember this story long after I've been repeatedly burned by being unable to use the Elder because I was attacking with Fengren Firstborn, so it's important for me to not take this as Evidence that Elder is excellent.
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