Tuesday, June 11, 2013

You Can't Be King Of The World

Finally, I have had some time to play.

The issue with Slave To The Grind may be ones of consistency; when I have creature removal, I tend to win and when I don't games tend to go badly for me. That doesn't mean I can't win but it means the matches are tenser and the odds of losing go up.

I played two matchups against Fuz; the first against his rat deck. I lost that match because in game 3 I couldn't find more removal, which was my fault for keeping a bad hand. I knew there would be lots of creatures; ignoring that fact was just foolish. Conversely, game 1 was a real slog because after sticking an Isochron Scepter with a Diabolic Edict, I couldn't find any mill cards to finish the game. Fuz couldn't stick a creature but I couldn't end the game soon enough and it felt like a drag.

The second matchup was against a deck using Sanguine Bond, Blood Artist and Exquisite Blood as a combo with Academy Rector to help him find the pieces. We went 1-1 and I didn't have time to try for a victory. The story was the same though: I cast Hideous Laughter, then proceed to mill like crazy and win. Or: I don't get any removal and die rapidly. I had to be careful with my removal though because if he got a Blood Artist on the board (there were two in game 1!) even my removal took my life total down a notch.

stonethorn presented a slightly different problem, with an America Allies build. But again: I had a turn two Scepter with Diabolic Edict and that pretty much broke that deck's back. In game 2, I had to play a bit cagier, as I didn't have that kind of removal but because stonethorn didn't know that, he was playing it safe.

Eventually, he started playing walls, which neither of us cared about and I was able to stick a Scepter with Dampen Thought on it. His response? Inferno Titan. Nothing says 'Hustle' like Inferno Titan. I cast Boomerang and then Enervate on a land to stall for time and draw cards.

Eventually, facing down both Inferno and Sun Titan who were going to end the game next turn, I cast Hideous Laughter, splicing a Dampen Thought in my hand, then used the Scepter to cast and splice Dampen Thought a second time, then hardcast it a final time, to mill stonethorn for 16 and win.

So it's looking pretty good, so far. Games are tense but I'm often pulling them out or feeling like I could pull them off.

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