Hallo, I am very happy to say that all of the win conditions I bought yesterday won a game themself. A Mirran Crusader suited up with Sword War and Peace is lotsa fun (with just 1 card in the opponent's hand, that's 10 damage) and Geist of St Traft lead to a very cool victory round 3. Or 2. Anyway, the games!
At Blacktown again, I'm paired against Blake who's fresh from work and newish to Magic.
Round 1 v Blake with red deck gets there.
Unfortunately for Blake, red deck didn't get there, though the story is funny. There's a turn 1 Reckless Waif that doesn't flip because I keep smoothing my hand and making plays until I land a Hero of Bladehold. Easy victory? Naaah, he's got the maindeck Combust for it (yikes!). That's OK, my hands full of threats so I just play another Hero and hope it sticks. Nope, Combust number 2 torches her.
The game continues uneventful for a moment as his Waif does flip and begins bashing in, when I cast my Mirran Crusader hoping to staunch the flow before it can begin. He answers with, yes you guessed it, Flame Slash.
What? Flame Slash? And sorcery speed mind you?? Funnily enough I pointed out that Flame Slash was a sorcery BEFORE that it wasn't even legal standard. "I gotta call the guy running this thing," I tell Blake, and the runner comes in from his smoke break/phone call. Seeing this isn't FNM I didn't say anything. My opponent was awarded a game lose, asked if he had any other nonlegal cards and we were told to play on from the current situation. I don't know that I like the 'play on' rule, seeing I was winning and was about to be handed another win for an easy match.
Still, it's not official FNM, though it is DCI sanctioned, though it is REGULAR so who knows/cares/whatever. We find a few Lightning Bolt and even a Chain Lightning in his deck, and I figure it's the lightning bolt special fanciness type deck, replace them all with Mountains and continue play.
Back to the action, Mirran Crusader looks smarmy bashing in next turn, when Elspeth shows up and makes dorks, gains me some life and a Fireball from Blake doesn't do much to save him.
1-0
1-0
That feels odd to write. Funnily enough the commoission the unStandard cards caused went along the table, and in round 2 one of the fellas who was talking about it got busted for Ornithopters. Good games!
My round 1 opponent was the amazing Mr Anderson.
Round 2 vs Wolf Run Wolf
Seeing the match up but not knowing the wolf part of it (ramp into lotsa mana, drop a lot of which Wolves exactly?) I keep a good hand for me that doesn't get there. His Birds of Paradise begin attacking when doubled with a Green Sun Zenith for another, followed by a Hero of Oxid Ridge. It's hard to block without creatures, let alone being dead.
For game 2 I sideboarded in my Dismembers and Spellskites, hoping he'd get anyone but his Hero's. He plays a Mayor of Avabruck early which I Dismember, going to 16, because my Geist of St Traft doesn't need to die yet. He drops to 14 off my first attack, tries to make a Kirin Outlaw as a blocker which gets Oblivion Ring'd and he takes another hit, going to 8. He has another Kirin Outlaw which I Dismember again [to 12] but then Consecrated Sphinx shows up and seals the deal.
Game 3 I don't change my sideboarding, though considering the Hero of Oxid Ridge I should have taken out the Spellskites.
Anderson gets an early Getstaf Shepherd who flips rather quick and my Phantasmal Image tries keeping up but he doesn't really. My hand is filled with complicated tricky measures I *could* take to stop the flow, but he has Midnight Howling [the werewolf enchantment] so that my Day of Judgment is useless, and he uses Kessig Wolf Run on my Phantasm who just can't hack the hike. I die pretty soundly, Anderson on a flush looking 16.
2-1
1-1
I also make a mental note: Actually Ghost Quarter's to the main, stupid. I forgot t mention I had counted my deck in between rounds and found 59 cards in the main. I'd removed a Plains for 2 Ghost Qs but neglected to put them in. This may have changed the match results (game loss each, then just play one game) but the result is the same. I ask Runner for the land banks and gets myself a nice replacement Island.
Round 3 versus Rony.
Yet again, my best mate/arch nemesis Rony is the opponent. He's trying a Burning Vengeance deck, which I think is great. Playing FNM the points are really worth it and the boosters are rather arbitary as to who gets them, so the games are just for fun. We tested before the event and he countered everything I did and had a B Vengeance on board when the first round was called, so I didn't know what my chances looked like.
Game 1 I keep 7 and he keeps 6, and he has the Burning Vengeance turn 3. I drop a Hero to just lay the smacks in, but he has a Geistflame and flashes it back to kill the Hero. I think that's a pretty good capability for the deck, but I answer with Consecrated Sphinx and begin drawing oodles, then next turn follow it up with a Sphinx copy via Phantasmal Image. He tries for a Forbidden Alchemy but it finds nothing and he concedes to 8 flying power and me drawing 5 a turn cycle.
Game 2 I sideboard in all my Negates, because they were especially good, and ask Rony jokingly "You're creatureless aren't you?" He confirms so I out all the Timely Reinforcments and Day of Judgment for goodstuff, including another Mirran Crusader.
Game 2 Rony and me lay lands until he tries to Alchemy, which I Leak. He doesn't have the counter-counter and just shrugs as he draws, me joking "Did you need that to draw out of a rut?" He drops the Burning Vengeance next, when I get a Hero and we all know that 7>2. Only he has a Sever the Bloodline for it, so I drop Gideon and hope to avoid all the creature removal he has.
Gidy gets him down to 14, then 8 then a Mirran Crusader joins my side of the fight which gets Mana Leak'd but I pay the 3. Rony's last turn he casts a Snapcaster Mage (liar! There WERE creatures!) but I check out his graveyard and see only a Sever the Bloodline that could make things bad. Dissapate does away with that removal and Rony dies.
2-0
2-1
My final round is against David, playing green white with artifacts in. He's got the powerful stuff, ala Gideon and DoJ, so he's playing green/white "me".
We both keep 7 and he has an early Jade Mage, which I copy with Phantasmal Image to keep the beats off/trade. He doesn't beat, so I do him down to 18. Hero comes down for me, which gets matched by a Druidic Satchel (for reals). I've written here *squints* P. H. squiggle, so I don't know what I played next, but he drops from 18 to 8, taking 7 from Hero-tokens and 3 from the Jade Mage. Hero 2 comes down, and he has a Day of Judgment! Back breaking, if I didn't have another Hero, the third. His answer then is Gideon, who says "Come at me bro," in a real convincing manner, so my team does buying David another turn.
He has a Satchel there after which isn't enough to beat my Hero beats matched with another Phantasmal Image-Hero.
Game 1 I sideboard Negate for his Gideon, Day of Judgment etc. We both keep 7 and I get a very stiff question straight away. He drops Grand Abolisher (no mana leak, no dissappate, etc) so for turn 2 there's no point in playing an untapped land. Does that mean Seachrome Coast or Glacial Fortress? I drop the Fortress tapped, figuring a turn 3 Seachrome Coast to Oblivion Ring the Abolisher is just delicious.
He gets a Satchel on an empty board, which isn't itself threatening but without any pressure from me it threatens to take control of the game. I get another Oblivion Ring so he drops Scepter of the Empires and begins a long game of plinking me down. I'm down to 17 when I get Elspeth and make some dorks, and gain life up to 20 again, but all the while he plinks me with Sceptre. He resolves a Garruk's Companion which begins beating me for 3 a turn and uses his Exilir to go up to 25.
I'm down to 14 when Elesh Norn shows up for the first time ever and rips the game a new one. My soldiers are 3/3, I bash for goods (his 2 minions died) and I make another 3 tokens with Elspeth, and then he Day of Judgments. Yeah, that happens some times.
He's at sixteen after my attack, I drop a Mirran Crusader with Mana Leak back up and he tries to Day of Judgment again. I counter it with Mana Leak and that's rather game, as he has no more threats or counters and his 14 just gets chewed out. Sword of War and Peace shows up and makes it two "small" attacks before I've got the match.
2-0
3-1
So a beaut 3-1 performance! There was certainly times when I could have played smarter, such as dropping loads of creatures into two Day of Judgments. Losing Elesh and all those lovely 3/3 Soldier tokens wasn't so bad though, considering the way I played. I knew the possibility was there, and it meant I could win NOW if he didn't have DoJ. He did, but because of how I'd chosen to play I still had the just-as-lethal threat or Mirran Crusader+Sword.
As I said above the Sword and Geist were both worth it, though I think St Traft will be moved to the sideboard. I like him in games against removal.dec, but he needs more cards to remove blockers and ones that preferably don't cost me 4 life to play. You know, those Vapor Snags I never added.
In his place the Mirran Crusader will rejoin the maindeck (so 2x main) also because of the Sword of War and Peace. It's just nice to know how quick that clock is, and only blue creatures can block after the Swords on the Crusader.
So after my thoughts, here's tonights deck. Note to self: add those Lands. Tricksy lands.
Geist of St Traft to sideboard
Mana Leak/Timely Reinforcments from sb gone -> 2x Vapor Snag in.
So tonight's run (proper FNM, at Megagames again) will look like this:
8 Island
7 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ghost Quarter
---
25 lands
4 Hero of Bladehold
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Consecrated Sphinx
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
---
13 creatures
4 Ponder
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Timely Reinforcements
3 Dissipate
3 Mana Leak
2 Day of Judgment
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Gideon Joura
1 Elspeth Tirel
---
22 others
2 Negate
2 Dismember
2 Steel Sabotage
2 Spellskites
2 Go for the Throat
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Swamp
---
15 sideboard
OK so based on the cards I have upstairs, we're experimenting lightly with a black splash. Go for the Throat, Nihil with black for card draw. The Nihil would have been Forbidden Alchemy, but 1 mana is cheap to pay and the exile-your-bin isn't counterable, so against opposing Snapcaster Mage's I will be FEARLESS. The Ghost Quarter is against the self same decks, because when they get Drownyard going it's just yuck.
Thanks all, I'll letcha know!
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