Standard Eight Man Tournament
Today I had the pleasure of driving out with some friends to just outside of Chicago where a local shop was doing a standard tournament. It seemed interesting and I’ve been on a roll in standard having won my last two events in the field. Not to mention I got to see some friends and play against some people I’ve not been able to yet.
My deck choices were either mono green elves or Caw-Blade and having more experience with Caw-Blade I decided to go with it. Not to mention I didn’t know much about the local meta but I knew that at the very least Caw-Blade would have good matchups against 90% of the field because it is the deck after all.
Round 1: Boros Aggro
I’m on the play with a decent hand which also has my one of sword of war and peace and addition to preordain and other random value cards. He plays a somewhat aggressive start which puts be to 17 off of a porcelain legionnaire but the advantage ended with some timely reinforcements followed by a sword of war in peace then eventually a baneslayer angel which completely sealed the deal.
Game two was rather similar and with my sideboard now in effect it wasn’t even close I believe I won with a swing consisting of Hero of Bladehold, and three solider tokens equipped with both swords of war and peace and feast and famine (Not to mention two more soldiers from Hero’s triggered).
Record: 2-0
Round 2: Mono Black Midrange-Discard-Control
My opponent was one of my friends who I came with and probably the next most skilled player at the event. He was someone who taught me how to play magic so it was kinda cool being able to face off with him so early in the event as I wanted to knock him out as soon as I could. That being said I’d played against his mono black list which for the most part is ok but against Caw-Blade it seems rather weak.
The biggest strength that his deck plays to is phrexian obliterator and not discard such as inquisition which I fell is much better on the whole (that is to say inquisition is better than obliterator). Our first game is close enough and he barley wins after I play to aggressive and attack with one to many hawks which allows him to be able to get through and slay me. So with a rather pleased expression I go to my sideboard and take about seven card and slam them in without a second thought.
The next to games are much easier as a result with me now playing much more control than aggression. My oblivion rings, dismembers, and celestial purges manage to deal with his obliterators as well as his own sideboard tech which is a phrexian crusader.
This matchup seems to be far better as a control vs. agro mentality with you just making them run out of cards which gaining your own through grinding removal. On another note card like surgical extraction and memrocide still aren’t very good. He would get ride of a playset of my cards and I would just shrug.
Record:4-1
Round 3: Same Kind of Deck
Everyone seem to like their obliterators but I don’t really see why, he dies to everything in blue white and the sideboard is insane. I manage to win the first one before my opponent concedes the next round as I have won enough round to get to the finals while he has not.
Record: 6-1
Round 3: Tempered Steel
An actual real deck and worst of all I actually didn’t have an insane sideboard against them which made me nervous when he landed a memnite followed by a contested war zone. Quickly though things became much better when he tried to get an steel overseer onto the field which I O-Ringed. Following that he got land stalled while I hawked and heroed him to death.
The next game is a lot closer with him even managing to get me to 16 life off of me dismembering his overseer before eventually beating with manlands and hawks. On a side note tempered steel is a deck but it really needs it’s best draws to beat caw. My opponent was taking far to average of hands when he should have shipped them. Such example include lands with tempered steel but with no white sources and the all memnite hand with only a turn two overseer to empower it.
Record:8-1
Finals: Same as Round Two
The event was ran by record and I was the only one who managed to beat him so he managed to claw his way through losers into finals which was fine with me. He was the only deck that I think had a decent chance but even then I wasn’t worried. We sat down and he had the nuts the first game with my mana leaks being used on my turn two to counter some discard spell. After than he surgically extracted the rest and managed to make me discard the three in my hand leaving me with nothing really in my hand. Eventually I died then we sideboard.
The first game was rather one sided with me killing off his fellows and beating down with hawks. His kill spells buy his some time but eventually he goes down leading to the last game in the set. Things get interesting as I have a hand that has two swords of feast and famine and squadron hawk with the necessary lands and a dismember. I snap keep but he plays a phrexian crusader which is somewhat rough for me but not nearly as much as when he plays the second.
I dismember the first one and play full on racing mode as the longer the game goes on the more likely I am to die. Eventually two squadron hawks get equipped and I manage to begin beating down and getting all of his card in hand. I got to six poison before finally managing to finish him off once and for all.
Record:10-2
All in all not that bad though the prize isn’t anything special being three booster but whatever I had fun and the players were all good people. I think I’ll come back next week maybe with a different deck as their meta seems to be lacking removal making me want to try elves all the more.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
M12 Draft 1
So today I had time to go to my local FNM to do an M12 draft with this being the second one I’ve been able to do so far. This isn’t so much my thoughts on the formats but a look at my deck and how my battles were won and lost.
Briefly touching on how my deck was formed I opened a skinshifter and nothing else so I picked it while being rather unexcited and moved onto the next pack which gave me a shock. Green/Red isn’t the best thing in the world and I was kinda hoping to be able to keep open to another color. Between where I was at I would rather keep the shock than the skinshifter. So when I got an oblivion ring next it was easy enough for me to switch to red/white agro as green quickly become unviable.
All in all my picks were all ok but at the end of the day I didn’t have any bombs not even a serra’s angel or grim lavamancer. That left me with a very strange midrange agro deck that I had my doubts about but nevertheless I moved forward.
Boros Draft Deck
Creatures
X1 Bonebreaker Giant
X1 Goblin Piker
X1 Blood Ogre
X1 Auramancer
X3 Assult Griffin
X1 Fiery Hellhound
X1 Arbalest Elite
X1 Griffen Sentinel
X1 Stormblood Beserker
X1 Benalish Veteran
X1 Crumbling Colossus
Sorcery
X1 Fireball
X2 Act of Treason
Instant
X1 Stave Off
X1 Chandra’s Outrage
Artifact
X1 Crown of Empires
Enchantments
X2 Pacifism
X1 Oblivion Ring
Lands
X10 Plains
X8 Mountains
Relevant Sideboard Cards
X1 Combust
So it’s an alright red/white deck with a lack of one and two drops but with a solid midgame but a terrible late game. The plan is to get in damage with my loads of three drops and then throw down assult griffins to rule the air. So how did it work out?
Game 1
Opponent: Black/Blue/Green
It’s interesting when you see an island into forest to play a rampant growth getting a swamp as you have to think that black or green would be the splash. Well after talking to my opponent he said he was splashing all the colors with no real central gameplan. Yet the first game goes well for him as I’m only able to land a Benalish Veteran to get him down to 12 before he kill it off with a doom blade. After that he plays a Skywinder Drake and uses a swiftfoot boots he had played earlier to evade my creature control. Many turn of drawing removal later and I’m dead. (He also played a Sorin but that was less relevant as I had an O-Ring).
Next round I had a decent curve but he followed up with a series of removal spells which eventually sunk me. Some child of nights later I was dead once more.
Results:0-2
Game 2
Opponent: Green/Black
So whenever I see a Green/Black draft deck in the format the two cards I dread the most would be Jade Mage and Onyx Mage. Those two cards are rather good together sure it’s five mana but it trades with everything with the notable excepting of my army of assault griffins. As he laid down his mages the only thing that I was really worried about was an overrun so I kept my attackers back so I wouldn’t die. Then finally he player the last card in his hand which was a rampant growth giving me the all clear to bash in and take the game.
The second match was uneventful as he mulled to five making my job easy enough as I played Stormblood Berserkers and go in to kill him off as he draws nothing but lands. I slam down Crumbling Colossus and next turn the match goes to me.
Results:2-0
Game 3
Opponent: Blue/Black
Once again I have an initial feeling about seeing my opponent play their lands. Seeing a swamp followed by an island puts my chances of winning to about 1:5. The reasons being that it’s likely my opponent will have flyers who can match mine in the skies and enough removal to deal with my colossus and Bonebreaker Giant. As it turned out that was exactly what happened in game one as things were going fine until she tapped down and played a Sengir Vampire to which I died three turns later.
The next game went much the same way with my creatures just ending up being outclassed at around turn five or six and at that point nothing much could be done.
Results:0-2
So I ended up going 2-4 before ending my career for the night and taking out my standard deck to play against my last opponent. The deck seemed to be alright and I really thought that act of treason would have been better but I was never able to get close enough in the early game to finish them off leaving me in a world of hurt.
Briefly touching on how my deck was formed I opened a skinshifter and nothing else so I picked it while being rather unexcited and moved onto the next pack which gave me a shock. Green/Red isn’t the best thing in the world and I was kinda hoping to be able to keep open to another color. Between where I was at I would rather keep the shock than the skinshifter. So when I got an oblivion ring next it was easy enough for me to switch to red/white agro as green quickly become unviable.
All in all my picks were all ok but at the end of the day I didn’t have any bombs not even a serra’s angel or grim lavamancer. That left me with a very strange midrange agro deck that I had my doubts about but nevertheless I moved forward.
Boros Draft Deck
Creatures
X1 Bonebreaker Giant
X1 Goblin Piker
X1 Blood Ogre
X1 Auramancer
X3 Assult Griffin
X1 Fiery Hellhound
X1 Arbalest Elite
X1 Griffen Sentinel
X1 Stormblood Beserker
X1 Benalish Veteran
X1 Crumbling Colossus
Sorcery
X1 Fireball
X2 Act of Treason
Instant
X1 Stave Off
X1 Chandra’s Outrage
Artifact
X1 Crown of Empires
Enchantments
X2 Pacifism
X1 Oblivion Ring
Lands
X10 Plains
X8 Mountains
Relevant Sideboard Cards
X1 Combust
So it’s an alright red/white deck with a lack of one and two drops but with a solid midgame but a terrible late game. The plan is to get in damage with my loads of three drops and then throw down assult griffins to rule the air. So how did it work out?
Game 1
Opponent: Black/Blue/Green
It’s interesting when you see an island into forest to play a rampant growth getting a swamp as you have to think that black or green would be the splash. Well after talking to my opponent he said he was splashing all the colors with no real central gameplan. Yet the first game goes well for him as I’m only able to land a Benalish Veteran to get him down to 12 before he kill it off with a doom blade. After that he plays a Skywinder Drake and uses a swiftfoot boots he had played earlier to evade my creature control. Many turn of drawing removal later and I’m dead. (He also played a Sorin but that was less relevant as I had an O-Ring).
Next round I had a decent curve but he followed up with a series of removal spells which eventually sunk me. Some child of nights later I was dead once more.
Results:0-2
Game 2
Opponent: Green/Black
So whenever I see a Green/Black draft deck in the format the two cards I dread the most would be Jade Mage and Onyx Mage. Those two cards are rather good together sure it’s five mana but it trades with everything with the notable excepting of my army of assault griffins. As he laid down his mages the only thing that I was really worried about was an overrun so I kept my attackers back so I wouldn’t die. Then finally he player the last card in his hand which was a rampant growth giving me the all clear to bash in and take the game.
The second match was uneventful as he mulled to five making my job easy enough as I played Stormblood Berserkers and go in to kill him off as he draws nothing but lands. I slam down Crumbling Colossus and next turn the match goes to me.
Results:2-0
Game 3
Opponent: Blue/Black
Once again I have an initial feeling about seeing my opponent play their lands. Seeing a swamp followed by an island puts my chances of winning to about 1:5. The reasons being that it’s likely my opponent will have flyers who can match mine in the skies and enough removal to deal with my colossus and Bonebreaker Giant. As it turned out that was exactly what happened in game one as things were going fine until she tapped down and played a Sengir Vampire to which I died three turns later.
The next game went much the same way with my creatures just ending up being outclassed at around turn five or six and at that point nothing much could be done.
Results:0-2
So I ended up going 2-4 before ending my career for the night and taking out my standard deck to play against my last opponent. The deck seemed to be alright and I really thought that act of treason would have been better but I was never able to get close enough in the early game to finish them off leaving me in a world of hurt.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Teysa Karlov
Teysa, Orzhov Scion (Casual)
So I think that all of us have the certain card that we just want to make work no matter who inefficient they might be. To me that card is Teysa, Orzhov Scion which is just one of those card I fell in love with as soon as I saw it when browsing Ravnica block.
Now I want to go through the thought process of making a casual deck based around a creature this one of course being Teysa herself. First off we need to look at the strengths of out foundation in order to build upon it. Teysa is a source or reoccurring removal as well as a generator for tokens. So from here we have two choices that we came make. The first choice is to create a combo deck that from or just make a deck were Teysa is a growing source of advantage. We will be doing the combo route in this article.
If were going the route of a combo deck things like Painter’s Servant could be useful as it would provide a combo to field wipe with spectral procession. Painter’s Servant makes the tokens both black and white thus they are created again when sacrificed to Teysa so you can exile as many creatures as you want. Now all you need to do is add some other outlets to get a variety of effects. If you want limitless mana you could use Ashnod’s Altar again with Painter and Teysa.
Twilight Drover is another combo type card as it can get big real quick if you have a combo outlet it make it have unending +1/+1 counters on it. Other combos include getting souls attendants for limitless life, Altar of Dementia to mill your opponent, and carnage alter to draw cards (though this one is a little worse). All of these seem rather solid sure there not going to win legacy tournaments but overall I’m happy with the results.
So with that done let’s try to put together a deck list of some sort for the simple combo version of the deck.
Creatures
X4 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
X4 Twilight Drover
X4Soul’s Attendants
X4 Painter’s Servant
Instants
X4 Spectral Procession
X4 Sword to Plowshares
Artifacts
X4 Ashnod’s Altar
X4 Altar of Dementia
X2 Carnage Altar
Lands
X4 Marsh Flats
X4 Godless Shrines
X10 Plains
X8 Swamps
Seems solid enough for a casual type deck we could certainly add card like dark confidant if we wanted to make it more competitive but it seems unlikely that a creature based combo deck like this could even truly be an actual legacy deck. That being said we certainly fulfilled or goal of making a combo Teysa deck and I got to say I love the flavor with all the altars and Teysa sacrificing things it makes me happy inside.
So I think that all of us have the certain card that we just want to make work no matter who inefficient they might be. To me that card is Teysa, Orzhov Scion which is just one of those card I fell in love with as soon as I saw it when browsing Ravnica block.
Now I want to go through the thought process of making a casual deck based around a creature this one of course being Teysa herself. First off we need to look at the strengths of out foundation in order to build upon it. Teysa is a source or reoccurring removal as well as a generator for tokens. So from here we have two choices that we came make. The first choice is to create a combo deck that from or just make a deck were Teysa is a growing source of advantage. We will be doing the combo route in this article.
If were going the route of a combo deck things like Painter’s Servant could be useful as it would provide a combo to field wipe with spectral procession. Painter’s Servant makes the tokens both black and white thus they are created again when sacrificed to Teysa so you can exile as many creatures as you want. Now all you need to do is add some other outlets to get a variety of effects. If you want limitless mana you could use Ashnod’s Altar again with Painter and Teysa.
Twilight Drover is another combo type card as it can get big real quick if you have a combo outlet it make it have unending +1/+1 counters on it. Other combos include getting souls attendants for limitless life, Altar of Dementia to mill your opponent, and carnage alter to draw cards (though this one is a little worse). All of these seem rather solid sure there not going to win legacy tournaments but overall I’m happy with the results.
So with that done let’s try to put together a deck list of some sort for the simple combo version of the deck.
Creatures
X4 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
X4 Twilight Drover
X4Soul’s Attendants
X4 Painter’s Servant
Instants
X4 Spectral Procession
X4 Sword to Plowshares
Artifacts
X4 Ashnod’s Altar
X4 Altar of Dementia
X2 Carnage Altar
Lands
X4 Marsh Flats
X4 Godless Shrines
X10 Plains
X8 Swamps
Seems solid enough for a casual type deck we could certainly add card like dark confidant if we wanted to make it more competitive but it seems unlikely that a creature based combo deck like this could even truly be an actual legacy deck. That being said we certainly fulfilled or goal of making a combo Teysa deck and I got to say I love the flavor with all the altars and Teysa sacrificing things it makes me happy inside.
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