Subtitle: Sometimes you just wanna punch someone in the face.
Okay! So I went to GP Detroit this weekend, with two other local players/friends, Dustin and Michael. This is gonna be a long one, so bear with me...
Friday:
We left Madison probably a little after 8am after taking care of some last-minute logistics. The trip to Detroit was pretty uneventful, the only snafus being very minor: we forgot about the time zone change, and we were a little later than we would have liked; and gas was a little expensive at one station I stopped at in Michigan.
We got to the Cobo Center at around 6pm, and Dustin and I were scrambling to make it to the last grinder, and Michael went to go check in at the hotel across the street. We made a couple of last-minute purchases and played in the last Modern-format grinder.
Okay, let me back up a bit. I'm working on goal-setting lately, and I figured it was important to set goals for myself for this weekend. So I set two of them:
1. Introduce myself to Steven Briggs, my Judge Regional Coordinator.
2. Win a match in the GP main event.
Then I realized I could create stretch goals, Kickstarter-style:
3. Win a match in the grinder.
Yeah, maybe I set my expectations too low so as to avoid disappointment. I dunno.
Anyway, I actually met my stretch goal. I won not only one, but TWO matches in the grinder. I lost a close round three (and a very good match). And I had a lot of fun. I love Modern. :)
Oh yeah, so I'll go over the matches in more "tournament report detail" further down.
Saturday:
Dustin got up early and wandered over while Michael and I were still dozing. I didn't sleep super great, mostly because hotel pillows are weird. They need to be like 50% thicker or thinner than they are. Because one is too small and two is too big. Oh well...
I was pretty astounded at the scope of the whole thing. The room was cavernous, like an indoor soccer venue or something. There were somewhere around 1450 players. This made logistics for getting players to their seats somewhat awkward, with giant clumps of hundreds of players crowding towards kiosks. You have to push your way up front to see where you're sitting at, and then push your way back out once you find it. "There must be a better way!"
Anyway, I found my table, found my opponent, and proceeded to meet my final playing-related goal of the weekend: I won a match. My opponent admitted he probably kept some sketchy hands, but a win's a win, amirite?
The next few rounds were back and forth. I got to play round 2 at table 6 (out of 500-something? 600-something?), and lost a very good, very close match. We split the first two games, which were very back and forth and lots of fun. The third game, he had a good draw and I didn't, and I got stomped. But we had a blast playing. And he was the FIRST player in the 4+ years I've been playing again to catch the Spinal Tap reference I like to use: he attacked me down to 11 life at one point, and I stated, "Like Nigel Tufnel, I'm going to 11." And he was like, "Nigel Tufnel? Really??" And we laughed. And then he beat me.
Third round, I dropped to table 500-something. Easily the single largest table-number drop of my Magic career. I think that was the round I got stomped by Bogles. But I'm not sure. They're starting to all mush together in my fragile memory. Either way, I was dead by round 5 with a record of 2-3. I needed to finish 7-2 or better to make Day 2. But I was still having fun, so I kept playing. If I lost some more, I figured I'd drop and maybe play in a side event, but ... yeah.
Then I started winning again. 3-3. 4-3. 5-3. I figured, I was probably just gonna play in a Modern side event anyway, so why not just keep playing Modern, right? Plus, sweet sweet Planeswalker Points!
Last match I looked at the pairings board, and I faced off against ... Michael. Doh. :( Well I wasn't going to dial it back just because he's my friend. Neither of us had anything to play for, really, so we gave it our all. And yay for me, aww for him, I won.
So my final record for the day: 6-3. WOAH. The best finish I've ever had at a competitive event. I've had lots of 5-4s, but never 6-3. Being a two-day event, it wasn't even close to being good enough to win anything, but I didn't really care. I had a blast playing. :)
Michael and I picked up our stuff and headed back. While wandering over towards the elevators, we saw a group of somewhere around 8 women, African-American, and dressed in a way that I can only describe as somewhere between club-fabulous, and hooker. I don't really know what they were doing/going/whatever, but the group of us geeky white guy dorks just couldn't help but to be all like: O.O
So that happened.
Then Dustin and I ordered pizza, snarfed it down, and went to sleep.
Sunday:
Dustin went over early and let us know that the side events were getting ready to fire, so we all wandered over. Michael got into an event right away, and Dustin signed up shortly thereafter. I wandered around to scope out vendors and try to overcome my anxiety about schmoozing. I did cross paths with an L3 that I worked with in Minneapolis, and we chatted for a minute (after I reminder her who I was). Then I talked to a couple of vendors about selling my playmat (since I had no plans to ever use it). One vendor offered me $10-12 for it, and the other one $20-24, so I traded it in for some cards. I picked up a foil Japanese Judge's Familiar, a Spanish Judge's Familiar FNM promo, and an Academy Ruins. Not bad for, well, nothing. :) Later, I found out that Dustin had traded his in for $35 of credit to a different vendor. Oh well. :/
I couldn't find Briggs, so I just wandered back to the side event signup, saw that the one Dustin was in had an opening, so I signed up. Heck with it. It fired shortly thereafter, and I promptly scrubbed out in two not-very-close games. So Michael said, hey, could you talk to your person now? So heck with it. I did. And shockingly, he didn't bite my head off. We chatted for like a minute, and then he wandered off to do .. stuff? So there you go. I met my final goal for the weekend. SUCCESS.
Oh yeah, so then I set another stretch goal: get out of Detroit alive. And ... well, I did. So yay!
The trip back was also pretty uneventful. Just lots of random chitchat about Magic and other geeky things. Good company. I'm glad we all went together. We got back to Madison around 8:30pm, and ... yeah, that's that!
So, I guess here's a more in-depth report?
Friday Grinder:
So I'm playing U/W/R Midrange. It's similar to the U/W/R Control lists out there, but it has more threats than just Colonnades and Ajani V. My list looked something like this:
8 Fetchlands
5 Shocklands
4 Basic Lands
3 Celestial Colonnade
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 "Buddy" Lands
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Mana Leak
3 Lightning Helix
1 Remand
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon Jura
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
Sideboard:
2 Stony Silence
2 Wear // Tear
2 Hallowed Burial
2 Sowing Salt
2 Counterflux
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Electrolyze
1 Spell Snare
1 ???? I forget :(
Round 1: vs. G/W midrange. I'm not sure what was going on with this deck. It looked like it should be deploying a bunch of critters and pounding face, but I didn't have much trouble keeping threats off the board. I think he got flooded in the second game. It looked like he was hinging on Wilt-Leaf Liege to boost his team, but it just wasn't happening.
Round 2: vs. Tron. I think it was a combination of the R/G and mono-blue Trons that I know are out there, but I'm not sure. I know that he had fetchlands and a Breeding Pool, but I don't remember for sure if he had Burnwillows or not. Either way, I think he got me quickly in game one, and game two I landed a turn-two Stony Silence, and that pretty much shut him down. I was able to keep him off Tron, and won pretty easily. Third game was even worse. I had a turn-two Stony Silence, and a turn-four Sowing Salt. I just saw the life go out of his face. I felt kinda bad, but you know, when your deck threatens a turn-three Karn and a turn-five Eldrazi, then ... yeah. He understood and was a good sport about it.
Round 3: vs. Robots. Hooray for accomodation! My opponent was wheelchair-bound, and had his mother with him to shuffle and draw cards and such. They were very friendly, though the mother admitted to being very tired and not especially looking forward to 9 rounds the next day. The games were very close and lots of fun. I think he won the first game pretty handily, but the second one was very back and forth. I think he hit me with a rather large Plated Inkmoth, but even though I was able to get rid of the Plating (somehow? I forget), he had another Inkmoth he was threatening with. I eventually topdecked a fetchland to get my 6th land so I could block with a Celestial Colonnade, and then I took over from there. I don't remember the last game, but I think it was another close one. Lots of back and forth. I misplayed at one point, though: I Clique'd him at some point, and saw a Spell Pierce, but then forgot to play around it when I slammed a Hallowed Burial. Oops. :( Great games, though. I don't mind losing those.
So I got 6 booster packs for my efforts (M14). Plus, I got lots of experience with the deck, which was awesome. I decided I wanted another source of colored mana more than I wanted a token-making land that I never used, so I swapped the Haunt out for a 3rd Steam Vents for the main event
Saturday Main Event:
Heh, that subtitle sounds like wrestling event or something. Anyway ...
Round 1: vs. Robots. Yup, more Robots. Am I gonna see this deck all day? Well, it turned out that he kept a couple of marginal hands, and I was able to keep him in check pretty easily. It helped that the second game he kept a one-land hand and didn't draw a second mana source for like 3-4 turns. So I happily took those Memnite beats while assembling a great hand and an offense. I won pretty easily. 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Robots. Like I mentioned, this one was very back and forth and lots of fun. We joked, bantered, chatted, and played some great Magic. Unfortunately the games were kind of long, and we had to kinda rush game three. He had a great draw, and I didn't, and he ended up beating me pretty easily. And I found out: Stony Silence is actually pretty good against this deck. At first, I was only thinking of Cranial Plating or Arcbound Ravager, but it also shuts off Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal, Steel Overseer, and Darksteel Citadel. Dang! Maybe I should have three of these in my 'board. But yeah, like I said, tons of fun. 1-1.
Round 3: vs. Bogles. I think. This might have been round 4. I forget. Anyway, this one wasn't close. He had the turn-one Bogle both games, and stomped me pretty bad. I felt in game one I could have burned him out before he could Bogle me to death, but turns out, Daybreak Coronet gives lifelink. What the crap. :( 1-2.
Round 4: vs. Burn. I don't think I've ever lost this match. I don't even have to play it perfectly. Protect my life total, kill his critters, and eventually they just run out of gas. Lightning Helix is an all-star in this match. If I suspected I'd see more of it, a 4th Helix would definitely be warranted, as well as a Baneslayer somewhere in the 75. 2-2.
Round 5: vs. U/W/R Midrange. I must have lost this one, because of the other matches I played, I can't think of what else I would have lost to. Yeah, now that I think about it, I think he got me in this one. Apparently I don't remember that much about the actual match. But we were discussing the deck, and the difference between this one and the Control version. His comment was along the lines of "Sometimes you just wanna punch someone in the face." And that sums it up perfectly. Sometimes I love playing Draw-Go, and just countering and/or killing everything my opponent does. But sometimes I get tired of poking someone to death with a manland and I just want to throw a Dragon at them. I think that's the Red part of this deck. I like it. :) 2-3.
Round 6: vs. Melira Pod. I think this deck is like the Aristocrats of Modern. They have the combo, which is pretty straight forward (infinite life and/or damage with Finks/Redcap), but they also have a very tricky elusive combat-based gameplan, too. If I disrupt their combo, they can just poke me with Voice tokens, or Lingering Souls tokens, or attack with Revillark, or drain me with Deathrite Shaman. I don't remember for sure how the match went, but somehow I won one of the first two games, and the last one I was able to shut him down pretty hard with Aven Mindcensor. I guess that card works! 3-3.
Round 7: vs. U/W/R Control. I don't remember much about this match. My opponent was kinda quiet, but pleasant enough. It seemed like he was kinda new to the deck and/or Magic in general, and he did all kinds of strange plays, like tapping out on his turn for a Lightning Helix to the dome, leaving himself wide open for a Geist. It seemed like he was on the burn plan for most of the match. So I dunno, maybe he just didn't draw his counterspells? Well either way, I won, I believe in two not-terribly-close games. 4-3.
Round 8: vs. R/G Aggro. Looks like a Modern port of the current Standard deck, with upgraded creatures (e.g., Kird Ape vs. Stromkirk Noble). This is pretty much exactly the kinda deck I wanted to face, and my deck didn't disappoint. Kill/counter everything early and often. And then .. punch him in the face! >:O Not literally. Kids, never literally punch your opponent in the face. 5-3.
Round 9: vs. R/G Tron. So I playtest against Michael quite a bit back home, and he almost always beats me. But this time, I was a little better prepared. I know both our decks much better by this point, and I was able to get a good feel for what his gameplan was at any given point, and to keep him just barely behind where he wanted to be. So I countered those Sylvan Scryings and Tec Edge'd his Tron piece. Even though I didn't necessarily draw a bunch of hate (honestly, I don't remember if I drew any), I had enough disruption to keep him just unbalanced enough to race him with burn and random critters. Sorry Michael. 6-3.
Sunday Win-a-Box:
Round 1: vs. Melira Pod. He beat me. I tried mightily to disrupt him, but for whatever reason I just couldn't stabilize or mount any kind of counter-offense. Oh yeah, I think the reason was because I got pretty badly flooded, at least in the second game. Dumb deck. I don't like it. I was told by the Melira Pod player I played on Saturday that I should never lose this match, but I just don't really get it. I feel like I have to get lucky to win. 0-1.
So .. uh ... that's the tournament! Thoughts about the deck:
* Seriously, tons of fun. I get to counter spells, I get to kill things, and I get to use cool spells and cool creatures. The only thing I don't like is that I want to use ALL of the cool cards. Every turn I want to Cryptic Command something, Helix something else, use Elspeth to pump Geist into a 5/5 flying, tap something with Ajani, kill something else with Gideon, and attack with everything. The Melira Pod player from Saturday plays this deck too, and he swears by Ajani and Restoration Angel. But to me, they're just really expensive. I might end up cutting something from the other threats to try them out, like maybe Elspeth or Geists.
* The sideboard is taking shape, but needs a bit of work. I ended up never bringing in the Counterfluxes. But then again, I never faced Twin. I'm not sure whether or not I actually want to do that for that deck anyway, or if what I already have is enough. I suspect that I still want them.
* Wear // Tear was pretty unremarkable. I think Disenchant does the same thing most of the time. I've never fused it, and in Modern, I don't think I ever will. Even Disenchant would have been underwhelming. I could probably cut them.
* The Bogles deck could be a problem if more people start playing it. I wonder if Celestial Flare is something I could do against that and/or the Infect deck.
* I know that some decks run fewer fetchlands, and I'm starting to wonder if I need to do so, too. Most games, I don't take too much damage from my own manabase, but some games, I don't think I have much choice but to pay 3 life every turn for the right colors of mana, and against some decks, that's tough. I might cut one or two fetches for something else. Maybe a filterland or another buddyland or something.
* The boogeyman of the week appears to be Jund. 6 out of the 8 decks that made Top 8 were Jund or Jund variants (i.e., without red, splashing white for Ajani). We argued in the car a little bit about what card or cards are really pushing it over the top, and we did all agree that Deathrite Shaman is probably the card that pushed Jund (and variants) over the top recently. It's gotta be one of the most powerful pound-for-pound cards in the format.
So this week ... Second to last week for ISD/RTR Standard. I'll probably still rock the Blood Barons until I get sick of them. And then this weekend is Theros prereleases. Should be fun!
Okay, well that's it for now. Thanks for reading. :)
Monday, September 16, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Wear, Tear, Snare ... Pierce?
One of these days I'm going to run out of not-terrible titles for these posts. One may argue that that's already happened. :/
Anyway! So I want to play other Standard decks, but I just can't bother myself to actually put something else together. So I played Blood Baron again. Deck is sweet. I played it at Misty Mountain last night, and went 3-1. Here's a rundown:
Round 1: vs. Boros. He was somewhat aggressive, but not super blitzy, which was perfect for my deck. I could take my time burning his random soldier folk, set up a Blood Baron and a Mizzium Mortars, and I won pretty easily. 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Boros .. Tokens? Okay, this one was a little different. This one was more of an engine deck, built off of Assemble the Legion, Legion's Initiative, and ... what's the weird white enchantment from M14? Gains you life when you attack, and your doodz get bigger when you're at 20+ life? Yeah. It was a bit slow to set up, but once it got set up, it was pretty tough to beat. Game one I tried to set up a Blasphemous Reckoning, but he played a Reckoner of his own. So I figured I'd try to Helix him to 13-ish, and myself well above 13-ish, but then he played another Reckoner. Then the token swarm came and shut me out of the game. The next game I played three Vampire Nighthawks on turns 3-5, and shrugged at his Burning Earth. Third game I had the Tear for his Burning Earth, and he couldn't keep up with my superlative midrange beaters. 2-0.
Round 3: vs. Big Red. Okay, I've got Wear and/or Tear for Burning Earth, so this should be doable. Nope. Turns out that a Chandra followed up with doubple Hellkite is pretty hard to beat. Oh, and I actually have to draw the Tear. I should think about going up to 3 in my board. 2-1.
Round 4: vs. Junk Midrange. I beat him pretty handily in game one when he appeared to get flooded, and I had all the removal for all his doodz. He took one game when he had Blood Barons of his own, and I couldn't quite get to Blasphemous Act mana. The key mistake I made: I Warleader's Helix'd his token instead of his dome when facing a lethal Blood Baron attack. He Resto'd the token in response to fizzle the Helix and I died. Next turn I (probably?) could have Blasphemous Act'd to stay alive. Third game I played got him with the Blasphemous/Reckoner combo in rather cheap fashion. *shrug* 3-1.
So yeah, still having fun with the deck. I'd love to try to play a Tibalt deck before rotation, but honestly, I just don't think that's gonna happen. :( But I'm okay with that. Blood Baron.dec is decent, and fun. So Imma keep playing it, k?
But hey, I finally got to play Modern with my new deck! I was pretty excited. Here's what I sleeved up, give or take a few cards:
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
3 Lightning Helix
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Remand
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Cryptic Command
1 Restoration Angel
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Gideon Jura
Sideboard:
2 Wear // Tear
1 Spell Snare
1 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
2 Molten Rain
1 Sowing Salt
1 Electrolyze
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Counterflux
Here's how it went:
Round 1: vs. M14 Slivers. Okay, this guy is fairly new to Magic and just threw together some cool Sliver cards and made a deck. Surprisingly, it wasn't as one-sided as you might think. It took several turns to establish a board presence with my plethora of removal and countermagic, but once I did, victory came quickly. 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Simic Wizards. Huh? Yeah, I played against this guy a couple weeks ago, and had a great time with his crazy Wizards tribal deck. He had all kinds of interesting little synergies, with Spellstutter Sprites, Graft and +1/+1 shenanigans, and countermagic (including Glen Elendra). I think he took me to three games, but in that third game, he was severely flooded, and I was able to win pretty easily. 2-0.
Round 3: vs. Infect. Ugh. Seriously. Okay, so I'm a Judge now, and I'm becoming a little more visible in the local Magic community, so I'm trying to maintain a better sporting demeanor. But. Ugh. :( I suspect that this matchup is actually pretty decent for me, but I need to figure out better lines of play. Example: his turn two, he has a Glistener Elf out, I have two untapped lands and both Lightning Helix and Mana Leak available. He casts Rancor on his Elf. So I go for the two-for-one and Helix it. He responds with Vines of Vastwood (I believe) and hits me for three poison. Next turn he responded to another removal attempt with another trick, and finished me off with a Groundswell. If I Leak the Rancor, it's possible I only take one poison that turn (unless he'd have pumped it, which he very well may have done). Regardless, I need to think more about these kinds of things before I do something. So yeah, I got kinda frustrated and probably let it show too much. 2-1.
Round 4: vs. Living End. I felt pretty good about this matchup, too, but there's one thing that I didn't count on ... Living End can be cast off of Violent Outburst, an instant. I held up one counter, but not two, and he was able to get his cycle'd doodz back. The other game, he had Ricochet Trap for my Cryptic Command. So I couldn't even draw a card. :'( Again, kinda frustrating, but ... Oh well. I didn't grumble [as loudly] about it, at least. 2-2.
So am I ready for prime time (Grand Prix Detroit)? Heck no! But I'm going more for the experience than to try to win a tournament. I just like playing Modern, and I have Level 2 Judge aspirations, so I need to do some networking. And this is a great opportunity to meet my regional coordinator.
Thoughts about the deck, then:
* Probably could have used moar Electrolyze somewhere. I'm not playing the hardcore UWR Control deck that most UWR players are rocking, so I need to find card advantage where I can get it. Even if they're playing combo or control or something, I can just dome them and cycle.
* Restoration Angel and Isochron Scepter are adorable, but I think unnecessary. They were both experiments in late game reach and card advantage. But the Scepter is inherently risky, and very slow in the early game. Restoration Angel is pretty unexciting without a good blink target. These slots will probably be that Electrolyze and maybe another counterspell of some sort.
* Speaking of which: need moar counterspells. Especially of the cheap variety. Probably some mix of Spell Snares and Spell Pierces.
* I need to find room for a sweeper of some kind. Supreme Verdict is the common one for UWR decks, but I like Hallowed Burial a lot. I'm gonna grab me a couple, methinks.
* I'm not sure about the mix of late-game cards. I definitely like the Elspeth, but I'm less certain about the Revelation and Gideon. Other lists play Batterskull, Baneslayer Angel, and/or Thundermaw Hellkite. I'd hate to cut Revelation, because, well, cards. But given that my gameplan isn't really about stalling with removal and winning long games, it's probably the wrong card for the job. Batterskull is another way to help my critters bust through, and it might be a little better than Baneslayer. Thundermaw is a big giant fireball in the sky, and pairs nicely with Elspeth and Gideon. Hmmm. Maybe I'll go in that direction.
So yeah. Modern! I like it. :) I'm getting closer to having most of what I need/want for the format. Just need a 'goyf #4, and Bobs #2-4. And then I can spend a few bucks and buy singles for whatever else I might need. I'm already thinking about brewing other stuff for the format, like Loam, or Vial.
Oh yeah, so I got some sweet Modern cards at the Judge Conference a couple weeks ago. The conference itself was great, with lots of good talks, shared wisdom, and general schmoozing. But I'm not gonna lie, the foilz are pretty sweet too. Especially when I can turn around and trade the ones I don't really care about for stuff I actually want to play.
I did a bit less "networking" than I would have liked. I think that's part of my whole social anxiety thing. I can talk to people one-on-one just fine, or even in small groups. But walking up to someone in a crowded room and introducing myself ... HARD. One of these days I'll get over that.
In the meantime, I'm having to be very careful about what I accept for judging assignments. I noticed myself slipping too far away from the "life" part of "Magic/life balance". I love being a larger part of the greater Magic community, but I gotta be a part of my non-Magic home community, too.
Okay, I think that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for reading!
Anyway! So I want to play other Standard decks, but I just can't bother myself to actually put something else together. So I played Blood Baron again. Deck is sweet. I played it at Misty Mountain last night, and went 3-1. Here's a rundown:
Round 1: vs. Boros. He was somewhat aggressive, but not super blitzy, which was perfect for my deck. I could take my time burning his random soldier folk, set up a Blood Baron and a Mizzium Mortars, and I won pretty easily. 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Boros .. Tokens? Okay, this one was a little different. This one was more of an engine deck, built off of Assemble the Legion, Legion's Initiative, and ... what's the weird white enchantment from M14? Gains you life when you attack, and your doodz get bigger when you're at 20+ life? Yeah. It was a bit slow to set up, but once it got set up, it was pretty tough to beat. Game one I tried to set up a Blasphemous Reckoning, but he played a Reckoner of his own. So I figured I'd try to Helix him to 13-ish, and myself well above 13-ish, but then he played another Reckoner. Then the token swarm came and shut me out of the game. The next game I played three Vampire Nighthawks on turns 3-5, and shrugged at his Burning Earth. Third game I had the Tear for his Burning Earth, and he couldn't keep up with my superlative midrange beaters. 2-0.
Round 3: vs. Big Red. Okay, I've got Wear and/or Tear for Burning Earth, so this should be doable. Nope. Turns out that a Chandra followed up with doubple Hellkite is pretty hard to beat. Oh, and I actually have to draw the Tear. I should think about going up to 3 in my board. 2-1.
Round 4: vs. Junk Midrange. I beat him pretty handily in game one when he appeared to get flooded, and I had all the removal for all his doodz. He took one game when he had Blood Barons of his own, and I couldn't quite get to Blasphemous Act mana. The key mistake I made: I Warleader's Helix'd his token instead of his dome when facing a lethal Blood Baron attack. He Resto'd the token in response to fizzle the Helix and I died. Next turn I (probably?) could have Blasphemous Act'd to stay alive. Third game I played got him with the Blasphemous/Reckoner combo in rather cheap fashion. *shrug* 3-1.
So yeah, still having fun with the deck. I'd love to try to play a Tibalt deck before rotation, but honestly, I just don't think that's gonna happen. :( But I'm okay with that. Blood Baron.dec is decent, and fun. So Imma keep playing it, k?
But hey, I finally got to play Modern with my new deck! I was pretty excited. Here's what I sleeved up, give or take a few cards:
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
3 Lightning Helix
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Remand
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Cryptic Command
1 Restoration Angel
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Gideon Jura
Sideboard:
2 Wear // Tear
1 Spell Snare
1 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
2 Molten Rain
1 Sowing Salt
1 Electrolyze
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Counterflux
Here's how it went:
Round 1: vs. M14 Slivers. Okay, this guy is fairly new to Magic and just threw together some cool Sliver cards and made a deck. Surprisingly, it wasn't as one-sided as you might think. It took several turns to establish a board presence with my plethora of removal and countermagic, but once I did, victory came quickly. 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Simic Wizards. Huh? Yeah, I played against this guy a couple weeks ago, and had a great time with his crazy Wizards tribal deck. He had all kinds of interesting little synergies, with Spellstutter Sprites, Graft and +1/+1 shenanigans, and countermagic (including Glen Elendra). I think he took me to three games, but in that third game, he was severely flooded, and I was able to win pretty easily. 2-0.
Round 3: vs. Infect. Ugh. Seriously. Okay, so I'm a Judge now, and I'm becoming a little more visible in the local Magic community, so I'm trying to maintain a better sporting demeanor. But. Ugh. :( I suspect that this matchup is actually pretty decent for me, but I need to figure out better lines of play. Example: his turn two, he has a Glistener Elf out, I have two untapped lands and both Lightning Helix and Mana Leak available. He casts Rancor on his Elf. So I go for the two-for-one and Helix it. He responds with Vines of Vastwood (I believe) and hits me for three poison. Next turn he responded to another removal attempt with another trick, and finished me off with a Groundswell. If I Leak the Rancor, it's possible I only take one poison that turn (unless he'd have pumped it, which he very well may have done). Regardless, I need to think more about these kinds of things before I do something. So yeah, I got kinda frustrated and probably let it show too much. 2-1.
Round 4: vs. Living End. I felt pretty good about this matchup, too, but there's one thing that I didn't count on ... Living End can be cast off of Violent Outburst, an instant. I held up one counter, but not two, and he was able to get his cycle'd doodz back. The other game, he had Ricochet Trap for my Cryptic Command. So I couldn't even draw a card. :'( Again, kinda frustrating, but ... Oh well. I didn't grumble [as loudly] about it, at least. 2-2.
So am I ready for prime time (Grand Prix Detroit)? Heck no! But I'm going more for the experience than to try to win a tournament. I just like playing Modern, and I have Level 2 Judge aspirations, so I need to do some networking. And this is a great opportunity to meet my regional coordinator.
Thoughts about the deck, then:
* Probably could have used moar Electrolyze somewhere. I'm not playing the hardcore UWR Control deck that most UWR players are rocking, so I need to find card advantage where I can get it. Even if they're playing combo or control or something, I can just dome them and cycle.
* Restoration Angel and Isochron Scepter are adorable, but I think unnecessary. They were both experiments in late game reach and card advantage. But the Scepter is inherently risky, and very slow in the early game. Restoration Angel is pretty unexciting without a good blink target. These slots will probably be that Electrolyze and maybe another counterspell of some sort.
* Speaking of which: need moar counterspells. Especially of the cheap variety. Probably some mix of Spell Snares and Spell Pierces.
* I need to find room for a sweeper of some kind. Supreme Verdict is the common one for UWR decks, but I like Hallowed Burial a lot. I'm gonna grab me a couple, methinks.
* I'm not sure about the mix of late-game cards. I definitely like the Elspeth, but I'm less certain about the Revelation and Gideon. Other lists play Batterskull, Baneslayer Angel, and/or Thundermaw Hellkite. I'd hate to cut Revelation, because, well, cards. But given that my gameplan isn't really about stalling with removal and winning long games, it's probably the wrong card for the job. Batterskull is another way to help my critters bust through, and it might be a little better than Baneslayer. Thundermaw is a big giant fireball in the sky, and pairs nicely with Elspeth and Gideon. Hmmm. Maybe I'll go in that direction.
So yeah. Modern! I like it. :) I'm getting closer to having most of what I need/want for the format. Just need a 'goyf #4, and Bobs #2-4. And then I can spend a few bucks and buy singles for whatever else I might need. I'm already thinking about brewing other stuff for the format, like Loam, or Vial.
Oh yeah, so I got some sweet Modern cards at the Judge Conference a couple weeks ago. The conference itself was great, with lots of good talks, shared wisdom, and general schmoozing. But I'm not gonna lie, the foilz are pretty sweet too. Especially when I can turn around and trade the ones I don't really care about for stuff I actually want to play.
I did a bit less "networking" than I would have liked. I think that's part of my whole social anxiety thing. I can talk to people one-on-one just fine, or even in small groups. But walking up to someone in a crowded room and introducing myself ... HARD. One of these days I'll get over that.
In the meantime, I'm having to be very careful about what I accept for judging assignments. I noticed myself slipping too far away from the "life" part of "Magic/life balance". I love being a larger part of the greater Magic community, but I gotta be a part of my non-Magic home community, too.
Okay, I think that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Needs Moar Wear and/or Tear
Moar adventures in Blood Baroning! "Baroning" is a word, isn't it? Firefox's autocorrect doesn't think so. But Firefox doesn't think "autocorrect" is a word, either.
Anyway! So I've been too lazy to sleeve up a new deck, so I played my Blood Baron deck again. It's basically burn early, Blood Barons late. Cavern of Souls often names "Vampire," but once in a while it's "Advisor" or "Angel" or "Lhurgoyf." Here's how the evening went:
Round 1: vs. Selesnya. Nice kid, and a decent deck, but my deck had his number this match. Both games I burned away his tokens, Rakdos's Return'd, and then Olivia'd the stragglers. He had no answer for Olivia (I assume S-Charm was in there, but he didn't draw it). Win, 2-0. Record: 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Golgari Control. One game I managed to stabilize at somewhere around 3 life, though, and
come from behind to win it thanks to Obzedat (didn't draw his Putrefy,
apparently). But the other two games ... Yeah, I could have used Wear // Tear for this one. He got Underworld Connections out early, and used it often. I wasn't able to get any early pressure on him, and had to waste a bunch of burn on Desecration Demons. Third game, he Pith'd Olivia, so that pretty much killed my only remaining out before dying to Thrag/Demon beats. Tough match. Loss, 1-2. Record: 1-1.
Round 3: vs. Big Red. This was a fun one. Lots of back and forth the whole match. One game he was the aggressor early, and I managed to hold him off just long enough to keep myself out of burn range and start gaining life with Obzedat. The other two games, he had all the Mortars for all the Vampires, and I couldn't keep up. Oh yeah, game three: Burning Earth. WOW does that card hurt. D: Coulda used a Wear and/or Tear. Loss, 1-2. Record: 1-2.
Round 4: vs. Mono-White. Got paired up for the last round against a friend of mine. We were chatting between rounds, and he was lamenting that his only loss was to Blood Barons. Oops. :( Well, my deck is pretty much built to take out decks like his, and it did its thing very well. Burn early and often, and then Blood Baron just wins. Since the prize structure is such that 2-2s often don't get anything, I decided to offer a split and then concede after he agreed (remember, kids offer a split and/or concession and/or intentional draw separately, and completely independent on acceptance of other offers or match results). So we each got two packs, which we cashed in for store credit, making back approximately 45% of our entry fee. :/ Anyway, officially, this was a loss for me, but I would have won had I not conceded. So for the purposes of this blog, I'll call it a Win, 2-0. Record: 2-2.
I think I wanna stubbornly give it one more go, this time packed with Wear // Tear. And maybe I'll try out some M14 goodies, like Lifebane Zombie and Chandra. Otherwise, I'll probably move on to something else.
I'm looking forward to playing some Modern, too. I've got most of the pieces I want for a U/W/R Midrange deck, I just need to disassemble my Delver deck and replace the bad stuff (Steppe Lynx, Izzet Charm, Serum Visions, Delver) with good stuff (Vendilion Clique, Cryptic Command, Spell Snare, Electrolyze). Unfortunately, I'm pretty busy the next few weeks, so I probably won't get a chance to play much before the Grand Prix in Detroit in mid-September. Hopefully doing some testing with friends will suffice.
I'm hoping to do some more judging coming up this fall. There are two regional Star City events, in Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. And maybe also a PTQ or two? Depending on how Theros shakes out, that could be pretty sweet to get more packs and not have to buy as much. In the meantime, after great experiences in Green Bay and Minneapolis, it's back to the more relaxed and easy-going FNM. Oh yeah, coming up over Labor Day weekend, I get to go to my first Judge Conference, which I'm greatly looking forward to. Sweet judge foils, but also great company, and hopefully great learning experiences.
So, Theros. More stuff has been released about the set and its world, and it looks pretty sweet. Gorgeous, awe-inspiring artwork of gods and vistas and heroics. They're saying it's very flavor-driven, with lots of emphasis on hero archetypes. Knowing that Mark Rosewater is a big Joseph Campbell fan makes me excited to see what kinds of cool stories we get. Fun stuff!
Okay, that's it for now. As always, thanks for reading!
Anyway! So I've been too lazy to sleeve up a new deck, so I played my Blood Baron deck again. It's basically burn early, Blood Barons late. Cavern of Souls often names "Vampire," but once in a while it's "Advisor" or "Angel" or "Lhurgoyf." Here's how the evening went:
| I can haz blood food? |
| Woulda been nice. |
| Woulda been nice. |
| Mono-White is not beating this card. |
I think I wanna stubbornly give it one more go, this time packed with Wear // Tear. And maybe I'll try out some M14 goodies, like Lifebane Zombie and Chandra. Otherwise, I'll probably move on to something else.
I'm looking forward to playing some Modern, too. I've got most of the pieces I want for a U/W/R Midrange deck, I just need to disassemble my Delver deck and replace the bad stuff (Steppe Lynx, Izzet Charm, Serum Visions, Delver) with good stuff (Vendilion Clique, Cryptic Command, Spell Snare, Electrolyze). Unfortunately, I'm pretty busy the next few weeks, so I probably won't get a chance to play much before the Grand Prix in Detroit in mid-September. Hopefully doing some testing with friends will suffice.
I'm hoping to do some more judging coming up this fall. There are two regional Star City events, in Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. And maybe also a PTQ or two? Depending on how Theros shakes out, that could be pretty sweet to get more packs and not have to buy as much. In the meantime, after great experiences in Green Bay and Minneapolis, it's back to the more relaxed and easy-going FNM. Oh yeah, coming up over Labor Day weekend, I get to go to my first Judge Conference, which I'm greatly looking forward to. Sweet judge foils, but also great company, and hopefully great learning experiences.
So, Theros. More stuff has been released about the set and its world, and it looks pretty sweet. Gorgeous, awe-inspiring artwork of gods and vistas and heroics. They're saying it's very flavor-driven, with lots of emphasis on hero archetypes. Knowing that Mark Rosewater is a big Joseph Campbell fan makes me excited to see what kinds of cool stories we get. Fun stuff!
Okay, that's it for now. As always, thanks for reading!
Monday, August 12, 2013
Judge!
Hello!
Well the last couple-three weeks or so have been filled with ... not a lot of playing Magic. I've been pretty active doing "Judge" stuff though. I've worked a PTQ in Green Bay (Gnome Games East .. great store!), and a Star City Games Standard Open. I've also been doing FNM at Mox Mania (well, except the last couple weeks when I've been out of town on travel), and I even helped out with my Level 2 mentor's Judge Class that he's been running. I'm definitely on the Level 2 path, and I'm really enjoying it.
So yeah, I wanted to talk about the SCG event in more detail, because that was a great experience. I roomed and teamed up with a new Level 3 Judge from Minnesota, and he was an endless well of knowledge and information and philosophy. I wish I could just spend a week with him picking his brain. I found out about the recent history of missed triggers, and the philosophy of gambling as related to tournament organization and rules (such as why it's a DQ at all levels if you roll a die to determine the winner of a sanctioned match).
The event itself was hard work. That's another thing about Judging .. it's not just answering rules questions. It's a job, like working at Target, or a coffee shop. I'm there to help, but when I'm not fielding questions from players, I'm tidying up and making myself available. Or helping out with logistics .. running little errands for the scorekeeper and Head Judge, handling match slips, collecting obsolete table numbers, etc.
But it's very rewarding. I love helping out, and I love rules. And I get paid! I think this is a good gig for me.
I definitely need to tighten up my policy knowledge, though. I didn't bungle anything big at tournament, but there were a few things I wasn't sure about. I took a Level 2 Practice Test recently, and though I passed, there were a couple-three policy questions I would have gotten right had I been more familiar with some of the details of how we handle certain things.
As far as playing goes ... Well, I ran my Blood Baron deck a couple more times. And though it's great fun when it's working, it's a little frustrating when it's not. Control seems like a not-great matchup .. even when I brought in at least half my sideboard, I just couldn't seal the deal after he landed his first (and second) Sphinx's Revelation. But you know, his reaction when he Apptetite for Brains'd me and saw the Tibalt in my hand .. that was priceless. Funny thing was, he really wanted to take that Tibalt, but couldn't. So he had to Dissipate it instead. Frowning face. But yeah, he killed all my Blood Barons, Sphinx's'd, and AEtherling'd me to death.
I think I wanna move on to something else, though. Tibalt is hilarious, so I still wanna jam him in the sideboard of some deck, and I love Boros Reckoners and whatnot, so I think I'm gonna jam some Naya. Probably midrange, with a little ramp, some Domri, some Voices, and .. yeah. Kind of a "good stuff" deck. And I should probably up the number of Tibalts in my sideboard. Yeah, definitely more Tibalts.
Okay, well thanks for reading! Until next time ...
Well the last couple-three weeks or so have been filled with ... not a lot of playing Magic. I've been pretty active doing "Judge" stuff though. I've worked a PTQ in Green Bay (Gnome Games East .. great store!), and a Star City Games Standard Open. I've also been doing FNM at Mox Mania (well, except the last couple weeks when I've been out of town on travel), and I even helped out with my Level 2 mentor's Judge Class that he's been running. I'm definitely on the Level 2 path, and I'm really enjoying it.
So yeah, I wanted to talk about the SCG event in more detail, because that was a great experience. I roomed and teamed up with a new Level 3 Judge from Minnesota, and he was an endless well of knowledge and information and philosophy. I wish I could just spend a week with him picking his brain. I found out about the recent history of missed triggers, and the philosophy of gambling as related to tournament organization and rules (such as why it's a DQ at all levels if you roll a die to determine the winner of a sanctioned match).
The event itself was hard work. That's another thing about Judging .. it's not just answering rules questions. It's a job, like working at Target, or a coffee shop. I'm there to help, but when I'm not fielding questions from players, I'm tidying up and making myself available. Or helping out with logistics .. running little errands for the scorekeeper and Head Judge, handling match slips, collecting obsolete table numbers, etc.
But it's very rewarding. I love helping out, and I love rules. And I get paid! I think this is a good gig for me.
I definitely need to tighten up my policy knowledge, though. I didn't bungle anything big at tournament, but there were a few things I wasn't sure about. I took a Level 2 Practice Test recently, and though I passed, there were a couple-three policy questions I would have gotten right had I been more familiar with some of the details of how we handle certain things.
As far as playing goes ... Well, I ran my Blood Baron deck a couple more times. And though it's great fun when it's working, it's a little frustrating when it's not. Control seems like a not-great matchup .. even when I brought in at least half my sideboard, I just couldn't seal the deal after he landed his first (and second) Sphinx's Revelation. But you know, his reaction when he Apptetite for Brains'd me and saw the Tibalt in my hand .. that was priceless. Funny thing was, he really wanted to take that Tibalt, but couldn't. So he had to Dissipate it instead. Frowning face. But yeah, he killed all my Blood Barons, Sphinx's'd, and AEtherling'd me to death.
I think I wanna move on to something else, though. Tibalt is hilarious, so I still wanna jam him in the sideboard of some deck, and I love Boros Reckoners and whatnot, so I think I'm gonna jam some Naya. Probably midrange, with a little ramp, some Domri, some Voices, and .. yeah. Kind of a "good stuff" deck. And I should probably up the number of Tibalts in my sideboard. Yeah, definitely more Tibalts.
Okay, well thanks for reading! Until next time ...
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Naming Vampire
Hi everybody!
Okay, it's been a few days, so a few things have happened since last I blog'd.
M14 prerelease! It's a thing that happened. I was originally slated to only judge that weekend, at three different events at Mox Mania, but I ended up just doing the Friday Midnight event, and the Sunday Two-Headed Giant. So, my unbroken string of playing in prereleases continues! I think. I dunno, I may have missed one somewhere, actually. Anyway, I got to play, yay!
The two events I judge'd at were pretty uneventful. We had a great turnout for the Friday one, I think 38 players. Which was more than we were expecting. So, yay! I was originally going to have another judge helping me out, but I allowed him to play instead. Which prompted a tsk tsk from the L2 who assigned him to me, informing me after the fact that the whole point was to get me used to having an underling. Oups. :( Well, next time.
But yeah, it went pretty smoothly. Nothing really weird happened. Players seemed happy. Planeswalkers and Mutavaults were cracked. Fun was had. Yay, Magic!
So I got to play in the Sunday Sealed event with about a dozen other players. It was a nice low-key event for the L0 to get experience with. I started opening my pool, and my rares were:
* (Lifelink Sliver)
* Xathrid Necromancer
* Liliana of the Dark Realms
* Scavenging Ooze
* (Green Mythic Enchantment)
* (Green Mythic Hydra)
Whatttttttttttttttt. So I played green/black. :) My gameplan was to ramp up into my bomb rares/mythics and WIN. I also had some supporting things too, like Sengir Vampire, some ramp, and a few value creatures (Corpse Hauler). But I had little in the way of early-game or removal, and it cost me. I ended up going 2-2, losing to a tempo-oriented Slivers deck, and a deck with the Mythic Dragon and Ajani (and I failed to draw green mana). I traded all that money stuff for a black-bordered Spanish Sylvan Library and a Strionic Resonator. Okay!
So I got to play some Standard this week, and that's got me pretty excited. I decided against the MURKA deck and ended up playing the black/red/white midrange deck, aka Blood Baron:
Lands (25):
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
Creatures (17):
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Obzedat, the Ghost Council
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
Spells (17):
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Dreadbore
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Rolling Temblor
4 Warleader's Helix
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Toil // Trouble
Sideboard (15):
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Rolling Temblor
2 Sin Collector
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Pithing Needle
1 Underworld Connections
2 Rest in Peace
1 Rhox Faithmender
2 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Yes! Tibalt is back. ^_^ I know, he's terrible, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, I was pretty excited to try out my playset of Blood Barons, and, well ... let's see what happened:
Round 1: vs. Red/Black/White Homebrew.
So .. uh ... Strange deck this was. He opened on Jar of Eyeballs. Let that sink in for a minute: Jar of Eyeballs. It's a jar ... that has eyeballs in it. I think his next play was Assemble the Legion. Oh, and some Faithless Lootings, pitching Tragic Slips and maybe lands? I played some Vampires and stuff, which got Blasphemous Act'd, but Obzedat helped me recover and finish the job. I figured he was some kind of weird Stuffy Doll combo, so I planned for that. The next game was actually kinda like an Aristocrats variant, with a bunch of Doomed Travelers and Falkenrath Nobles (yes, Noble, not Aristocrat) and a Heartless Summoning (killing his own 1/1 creatures ... oups). He tried getting me with a Sire of Insanity, but Searing Spear put a stop to that particular shenanigan. Then I think he had another one, but I had a Blood Baron to finish quickly thereafter. Odd deck that probably had too much going on to be really competitive, but it looked like a lot of fun to play. It looked like a more combo-y version of The Aristocrats, with lots of death-trigger stuff (especially Morbid). Probably too many moving parts, but the guy was great to play with, and I always appreciate a good homebrew. Win, 2-0. Record: 1-0.
Round 2: vs. Jund Midrange.
Okay, a more typical deck. I don't remember exactly how game one went, but I seem to recall tossing around lots of burn and removal at his sundry Olivias, Garruks, and/or Thragtusks. I probably won with an Obzedat or something. I sided in Tibalt (yes!), Assemble the Legion, Mortars, and ... something else. Rakdos's Return? Sure. Anyway, he had me on the ropes for a while, hovering around 2-4 life, when Assemble the Legion pretty much single-handedly took over the game. He lacked a Wolf Run, so my musters chump blocked his Beasts for a few turns until I was able to start trading with them, and then start regaining life with ... something. Blood Baron, probably. Or Obzedat. Or both. Good times. I think I want a second Assemble in my board, because the card is rockin not unlike Dokken. Win, 2-0. Record: 2-0.
Round 3: vs. Green/White Humans.
"Cavern, naming Human, Champion, go." "Oh. This deck." Well, it wasn't the Naya Blitz deck I thought it was. But regardless, I basically tossed burn at all of his creatures, and then Blood Barons took over. The second game was close, because he had a Rootborn Defenses for my Blasphemous Act. But he didn't have anything for the second one I also had. Then Blood Barons took over. Win, 2-0. Record: 3-0.
Round 4: Intentional Draw.
Well that was that! I never got a chance to actually play the guy, since we were both keen to get home to our respective significant others. Turns out the guy has only been playing again for a couple months or something like that, having not played since Unlimited (!). So yeah, it's pretty cool to get another old timer back into the game. :) Still really wish I'd have not tossed all my old cards. :/ Oh well. I got new cool cards now. :)
So yeah! This deck is pretty sweet. I had a blast playing it. It's basically 1/3 lands, 1/3 burn, and 1/3 Blood Barons. Cavern-Naming-Vampire was a common play, but I did get to name Advisor one time too. I kinda wanted to name something silly at some point (like Badger), but I never got that chance. Oh well, next time. Anyway! Some thoughts on the deck:
* Gameplan was straight-forward, yet effective: Burn early, Blood Barons late.
* Mizzium Mortars is a blowout if I can overload it. It's still fine if I "merely" 1-for-1 with it early, too. Sweet card.
* Warleader's Helix is pretty sweet. It hit planeswalkers, it hit midrange creatures, it hit players, and it games me 4 life! Card was very worthy of being a 4-of.
* Obzedat and Aurelia are kinda Blood Barons #5-7, but they each did their own thing pretty well. I only got Aurelia out once, and though she ended up dying to a Vampire Nighthawk, she did a good job of ushering Blood Baron in for a 16-point life swing to seal the game. Obzedat was great at closing out games, too.
* Holy crap Assemble the Legion did a lot of work in that Jund matchup. It turned a losing position into a "not dead yet" position into a "holy crap I'm stabilizing position" to a "huh, looks like you're outta creatures" position into a "overrun with mustard" position. That's one card. I gotta find room for another one. So much mustard.
* Boros Reckoner didn't really get much of a chance to do his thing. Most of the time, he was the first or second threat I deployed, so he was the first one to eat a removal spell. That's fine. That's one less removal for my vampires.
I'm not sure where to take this deck moving forward. M14 might add a few interesting things, like the color hosers, or Doom Blade. The Archangel of Thune sounds kinda sweet, I suspect that it'd be better if I had more creatures to put counters on. Maybe this isn't the deck for her. Fiendslayer Paladin could be good, especially if I get several of them (and/or Boros Reckoners) out. Lifebane Zombie could be good as an Appetite for Brains-on-a-stick kinda card to bring in against W/G fatty decks. Something to think about!
Not much is going on at the moment. I've got some Judge stuff coming up, working at a PTQ in Green Bay, and a SCG event in Milwaukee. That'll be fun, and great opportunity, too. I definitely want to get more Competitive experience in. I still don't feel 100% confident doing policy-related stuff quite yet, and the more I see and deal with stuff, the faster I'll learn. Fun!
Okay, well that's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Okay, it's been a few days, so a few things have happened since last I blog'd.
M14 prerelease! It's a thing that happened. I was originally slated to only judge that weekend, at three different events at Mox Mania, but I ended up just doing the Friday Midnight event, and the Sunday Two-Headed Giant. So, my unbroken string of playing in prereleases continues! I think. I dunno, I may have missed one somewhere, actually. Anyway, I got to play, yay!
The two events I judge'd at were pretty uneventful. We had a great turnout for the Friday one, I think 38 players. Which was more than we were expecting. So, yay! I was originally going to have another judge helping me out, but I allowed him to play instead. Which prompted a tsk tsk from the L2 who assigned him to me, informing me after the fact that the whole point was to get me used to having an underling. Oups. :( Well, next time.
But yeah, it went pretty smoothly. Nothing really weird happened. Players seemed happy. Planeswalkers and Mutavaults were cracked. Fun was had. Yay, Magic!
So I got to play in the Sunday Sealed event with about a dozen other players. It was a nice low-key event for the L0 to get experience with. I started opening my pool, and my rares were:
* (Lifelink Sliver)
* Xathrid Necromancer
* Liliana of the Dark Realms
* Scavenging Ooze
* (Green Mythic Enchantment)
* (Green Mythic Hydra)
Whatttttttttttttttt. So I played green/black. :) My gameplan was to ramp up into my bomb rares/mythics and WIN. I also had some supporting things too, like Sengir Vampire, some ramp, and a few value creatures (Corpse Hauler). But I had little in the way of early-game or removal, and it cost me. I ended up going 2-2, losing to a tempo-oriented Slivers deck, and a deck with the Mythic Dragon and Ajani (and I failed to draw green mana). I traded all that money stuff for a black-bordered Spanish Sylvan Library and a Strionic Resonator. Okay!
So I got to play some Standard this week, and that's got me pretty excited. I decided against the MURKA deck and ended up playing the black/red/white midrange deck, aka Blood Baron:
Lands (25):
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
Creatures (17):
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Obzedat, the Ghost Council
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
Spells (17):
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Dreadbore
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Rolling Temblor
4 Warleader's Helix
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Toil // Trouble
Sideboard (15):
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Rolling Temblor
2 Sin Collector
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Pithing Needle
1 Underworld Connections
2 Rest in Peace
1 Rhox Faithmender
2 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Yes! Tibalt is back. ^_^ I know, he's terrible, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, I was pretty excited to try out my playset of Blood Barons, and, well ... let's see what happened:
| What. |
So .. uh ... Strange deck this was. He opened on Jar of Eyeballs. Let that sink in for a minute: Jar of Eyeballs. It's a jar ... that has eyeballs in it. I think his next play was Assemble the Legion. Oh, and some Faithless Lootings, pitching Tragic Slips and maybe lands? I played some Vampires and stuff, which got Blasphemous Act'd, but Obzedat helped me recover and finish the job. I figured he was some kind of weird Stuffy Doll combo, so I planned for that. The next game was actually kinda like an Aristocrats variant, with a bunch of Doomed Travelers and Falkenrath Nobles (yes, Noble, not Aristocrat) and a Heartless Summoning (killing his own 1/1 creatures ... oups). He tried getting me with a Sire of Insanity, but Searing Spear put a stop to that particular shenanigan. Then I think he had another one, but I had a Blood Baron to finish quickly thereafter. Odd deck that probably had too much going on to be really competitive, but it looked like a lot of fun to play. It looked like a more combo-y version of The Aristocrats, with lots of death-trigger stuff (especially Morbid). Probably too many moving parts, but the guy was great to play with, and I always appreciate a good homebrew. Win, 2-0. Record: 1-0.
| Mustard counters! |
Okay, a more typical deck. I don't remember exactly how game one went, but I seem to recall tossing around lots of burn and removal at his sundry Olivias, Garruks, and/or Thragtusks. I probably won with an Obzedat or something. I sided in Tibalt (yes!), Assemble the Legion, Mortars, and ... something else. Rakdos's Return? Sure. Anyway, he had me on the ropes for a while, hovering around 2-4 life, when Assemble the Legion pretty much single-handedly took over the game. He lacked a Wolf Run, so my musters chump blocked his Beasts for a few turns until I was able to start trading with them, and then start regaining life with ... something. Blood Baron, probably. Or Obzedat. Or both. Good times. I think I want a second Assemble in my board, because the card is rockin not unlike Dokken. Win, 2-0. Record: 2-0.
| Counter target Blasphemous Act. Oh, and have a Human token, too. |
"Cavern, naming Human, Champion, go." "Oh. This deck." Well, it wasn't the Naya Blitz deck I thought it was. But regardless, I basically tossed burn at all of his creatures, and then Blood Barons took over. The second game was close, because he had a Rootborn Defenses for my Blasphemous Act. But he didn't have anything for the second one I also had. Then Blood Barons took over. Win, 2-0. Record: 3-0.
Round 4: Intentional Draw.
Well that was that! I never got a chance to actually play the guy, since we were both keen to get home to our respective significant others. Turns out the guy has only been playing again for a couple months or something like that, having not played since Unlimited (!). So yeah, it's pretty cool to get another old timer back into the game. :) Still really wish I'd have not tossed all my old cards. :/ Oh well. I got new cool cards now. :)
So yeah! This deck is pretty sweet. I had a blast playing it. It's basically 1/3 lands, 1/3 burn, and 1/3 Blood Barons. Cavern-Naming-Vampire was a common play, but I did get to name Advisor one time too. I kinda wanted to name something silly at some point (like Badger), but I never got that chance. Oh well, next time. Anyway! Some thoughts on the deck:
* Gameplan was straight-forward, yet effective: Burn early, Blood Barons late.
* Mizzium Mortars is a blowout if I can overload it. It's still fine if I "merely" 1-for-1 with it early, too. Sweet card.
* Warleader's Helix is pretty sweet. It hit planeswalkers, it hit midrange creatures, it hit players, and it games me 4 life! Card was very worthy of being a 4-of.
* Obzedat and Aurelia are kinda Blood Barons #5-7, but they each did their own thing pretty well. I only got Aurelia out once, and though she ended up dying to a Vampire Nighthawk, she did a good job of ushering Blood Baron in for a 16-point life swing to seal the game. Obzedat was great at closing out games, too.
* Holy crap Assemble the Legion did a lot of work in that Jund matchup. It turned a losing position into a "not dead yet" position into a "holy crap I'm stabilizing position" to a "huh, looks like you're outta creatures" position into a "overrun with mustard" position. That's one card. I gotta find room for another one. So much mustard.
* Boros Reckoner didn't really get much of a chance to do his thing. Most of the time, he was the first or second threat I deployed, so he was the first one to eat a removal spell. That's fine. That's one less removal for my vampires.
I'm not sure where to take this deck moving forward. M14 might add a few interesting things, like the color hosers, or Doom Blade. The Archangel of Thune sounds kinda sweet, I suspect that it'd be better if I had more creatures to put counters on. Maybe this isn't the deck for her. Fiendslayer Paladin could be good, especially if I get several of them (and/or Boros Reckoners) out. Lifebane Zombie could be good as an Appetite for Brains-on-a-stick kinda card to bring in against W/G fatty decks. Something to think about!
Not much is going on at the moment. I've got some Judge stuff coming up, working at a PTQ in Green Bay, and a SCG event in Milwaukee. That'll be fun, and great opportunity, too. I definitely want to get more Competitive experience in. I still don't feel 100% confident doing policy-related stuff quite yet, and the more I see and deal with stuff, the faster I'll learn. Fun!
Okay, well that's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Fiend Blood .. Winning!
Hi everybody!
So I played at Mox's win-a-box thingy this week, but I didn't get a chance to throw together a UWR deck, so I just played my GRUUL SMASH deck. And a funny thing happened: I found a matchup to bring in Tibalt against! Jund/Midrange! They spend their first 4-5 turns just farting around and setting stuff up and sandbagging their sequence of big dorks. If they let Tibalt live, and I get him up to 6, I'll steal their big dorks and beat them with them.
So, I recklessly looted my own hand, ticking Tibalt up to 5, and then blew up my opponent's brain in his face! My opponent counted out his hand: 6 cards. 6 life. And I couldn't help but to laugh with maniacal (and perhaps slightly unsportsmanlike) glee. The rest of the store looked at me with a mixture of awe and pity. U MAD, MOX?
Unfortunately, the rest of the night didn't go quite so well. I won another match, and lost the other two, finishing just outside "the money" at 2-2 with mediocre tiebreakers (I'm pretty sure the guy who Tibalt burned out dropped after that humiliation).
So yeah, I think I'll put together that MURKA deck. Hey, yeah, it was the 4th yesterday, so ... MURKA!
MURKA.
| So this card's terrible, rigth? |
So, I recklessly looted my own hand, ticking Tibalt up to 5, and then blew up my opponent's brain in his face! My opponent counted out his hand: 6 cards. 6 life. And I couldn't help but to laugh with maniacal (and perhaps slightly unsportsmanlike) glee. The rest of the store looked at me with a mixture of awe and pity. U MAD, MOX?
Unfortunately, the rest of the night didn't go quite so well. I won another match, and lost the other two, finishing just outside "the money" at 2-2 with mediocre tiebreakers (I'm pretty sure the guy who Tibalt burned out dropped after that humiliation).
| Aurelia: guild leader in chief? I don't really know what that means. |
MURKA.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Yay, Magic!
So, busy Magic weekend! I did a whole heck of a lot of Judging, and I loved every minute of it.
I don't remember if I mentioned this in my last post, but I got a regular weekly gig, judging FNM at Mox Mania. I'm pretty excited about that. It'll be lots of experience, and lots of fun. I'm getting to know more of the Mox regulars, and they're pretty great folks. So this Friday was the first time for me running it, and it was pretty cool. I got a few questions, and got to chat with a few of the players, a couple of things I love doing.
Saturday was a small, yet important rung on my rhetorical "Judge Ladder." I was a member of a team working the TCGplayer 5K this weekend. I was on the Deck Checks team, but of course I didn't spend 10 hours just doing that (after mid-round deck checks, we're free to roam the floor and take calls). Then, about halfway through the event, I got relegated to Side Events duty. That basically meant babysitting the pair of 8-person events, one DGR Block Draft and one Win-A-Box Standard. That basically meant just watching people play and making random small talk. I think I answered one or two actual game-related rules questions between both events. But hey, somebody's gotta do it, might as well be the new guy, amirite? :)
It occured to me as I was leaving the event: at that point, over the last 24 hours, I had been on Judge Duty more than not. I'm okay with that. :) My feet .. maybe not so much. :/
But it was lots of fun. I got to meet some other judges, and everyone I met was pretty great. I took a few calls, and only stumbled on a couple of small-ish things. I did have to intervene in one match when I witnessed a borderline Improperly Determining the Winner of a Match situation. Mr. Head Judge investigated, and let them off with a very stern Caution.
So yeah, quick soapbox mode:
Do not improperly determine the winner of a match! This means either you play it out, or just concede or intentionally draw. You can't roll a die, flip a coin, play rock-paper-scissors, play Mario Kart, flip over the top card of your library, etc. And don't make any offer of a draw or concession based on any kind of incentive. Splitting prizes is fine, drawing/conceding is fine, but they CANNOT be contingent on each other. The two must be strictly separate. "Wanna split prizes?" "Okay." "Wanna ID?" "Cool." This is perfectly acceptable. "I'll ID with you if we can split prizes" is not okay. If you have questions, call a judge. That's what we're here for!
Okay, speaking of which, has everybody seen this crazy card?
Copy a triggered ability! So what the heck is a triggered ability? It's basically anything that looks like this: "When [some event occurs], [do some game action]." Both abilities of Thragtusk are triggered abilities ("When Thragtusk enters the battlefield ..." and "When Thragtusk leaves the battlefield ..."). Doubling Season is actually not a triggered ability .. it's a static ability that generates a replacement effect ("If [something would happen], [do something else] instead."). Avacyn's Pilgrim's ability isn't a triggered ability .. it's an activated ability (written "[Cost(s)]: [effect]".).
The fact that I had to spend a paragraph describing what a triggered ability is shows that I'm probably going to get asked quite a few questions about this card. To which I say, cool! I love answered rules questions. If I don't know the answer, I love finding out the answer. For example, how does this thing affect Isochron Scepter?
Honestly, I didn't know at first. It was pretty clear to me that you could exile two cards with the two different Imprint abilities. But what happens when you activate its second ability? It says "copy the imprinted card" ... singular.
Turns out, the singular-ness of that wording is a red herring. The word "card" in this case is shorthand for "card or cards." So, you get both of em! It's similar to what happens when you get two Angel tokens from Geist of Saint Traft via Doubling Season. You exile both of them. A more precise wording would be "exile all tokens created by this ability"), but that's too wordy for an already-wordy ability. It's also confusing when the plural version would almost never matter in actual games. So, just "exile that token." Likewise, "copy the imprinted card" is shorthand for "copy all imprinted cards." I'm not sure it's even possible to Imprint two cards onto Isochron Scepter right now ...
Oh, I got to play this weekend too. I didn't have much going on Sunday afternoon, so I dusted off my Modern Delver deck, added a few new toys (Vendilion Clique in the main, Electrolyze and Spell Snare in the side), and gave it a whirl. I had a lot of fun playing and hanging out and watching others play. We actually got a fully-sanctioned event to fire, even! I think we had 11 players. I ended up going 3-1, losing to a Goblins deck. I can deal with a few of the pests biting my kneecaps, but not a whole bunch of them coming every single turn. D: But anyway. I also beat a Junk deck that got bad draws, a casual Simic Merfolk/Wizard deck, and a Scapeshift deck. And I got to answer rules questions. :) I love answering rules questions! :D I'm a nerd, I know ... But yeah, I also got to watch someone win through a fully active Urzatron engine with multiple Eldrazi out. It looked like he had a combo of Eternal Witness and Cryptic Command going to tap down his monsters and bounce his Witness. Fun! Reminds me of that weird deck that a Japanese pro player played last year. It looked like a lot of fun, and I wanna try playing something like that.
Yay, Magic! :)
I don't remember if I mentioned this in my last post, but I got a regular weekly gig, judging FNM at Mox Mania. I'm pretty excited about that. It'll be lots of experience, and lots of fun. I'm getting to know more of the Mox regulars, and they're pretty great folks. So this Friday was the first time for me running it, and it was pretty cool. I got a few questions, and got to chat with a few of the players, a couple of things I love doing.
Saturday was a small, yet important rung on my rhetorical "Judge Ladder." I was a member of a team working the TCGplayer 5K this weekend. I was on the Deck Checks team, but of course I didn't spend 10 hours just doing that (after mid-round deck checks, we're free to roam the floor and take calls). Then, about halfway through the event, I got relegated to Side Events duty. That basically meant babysitting the pair of 8-person events, one DGR Block Draft and one Win-A-Box Standard. That basically meant just watching people play and making random small talk. I think I answered one or two actual game-related rules questions between both events. But hey, somebody's gotta do it, might as well be the new guy, amirite? :)
It occured to me as I was leaving the event: at that point, over the last 24 hours, I had been on Judge Duty more than not. I'm okay with that. :) My feet .. maybe not so much. :/
But it was lots of fun. I got to meet some other judges, and everyone I met was pretty great. I took a few calls, and only stumbled on a couple of small-ish things. I did have to intervene in one match when I witnessed a borderline Improperly Determining the Winner of a Match situation. Mr. Head Judge investigated, and let them off with a very stern Caution.
So yeah, quick soapbox mode:
Do not improperly determine the winner of a match! This means either you play it out, or just concede or intentionally draw. You can't roll a die, flip a coin, play rock-paper-scissors, play Mario Kart, flip over the top card of your library, etc. And don't make any offer of a draw or concession based on any kind of incentive. Splitting prizes is fine, drawing/conceding is fine, but they CANNOT be contingent on each other. The two must be strictly separate. "Wanna split prizes?" "Okay." "Wanna ID?" "Cool." This is perfectly acceptable. "I'll ID with you if we can split prizes" is not okay. If you have questions, call a judge. That's what we're here for!
Okay, speaking of which, has everybody seen this crazy card?
 |
| What?? |
The fact that I had to spend a paragraph describing what a triggered ability is shows that I'm probably going to get asked quite a few questions about this card. To which I say, cool! I love answered rules questions. If I don't know the answer, I love finding out the answer. For example, how does this thing affect Isochron Scepter?
| Uh.... |
Turns out, the singular-ness of that wording is a red herring. The word "card" in this case is shorthand for "card or cards." So, you get both of em! It's similar to what happens when you get two Angel tokens from Geist of Saint Traft via Doubling Season. You exile both of them. A more precise wording would be "exile all tokens created by this ability"), but that's too wordy for an already-wordy ability. It's also confusing when the plural version would almost never matter in actual games. So, just "exile that token." Likewise, "copy the imprinted card" is shorthand for "copy all imprinted cards." I'm not sure it's even possible to Imprint two cards onto Isochron Scepter right now ...
Oh, I got to play this weekend too. I didn't have much going on Sunday afternoon, so I dusted off my Modern Delver deck, added a few new toys (Vendilion Clique in the main, Electrolyze and Spell Snare in the side), and gave it a whirl. I had a lot of fun playing and hanging out and watching others play. We actually got a fully-sanctioned event to fire, even! I think we had 11 players. I ended up going 3-1, losing to a Goblins deck. I can deal with a few of the pests biting my kneecaps, but not a whole bunch of them coming every single turn. D: But anyway. I also beat a Junk deck that got bad draws, a casual Simic Merfolk/Wizard deck, and a Scapeshift deck. And I got to answer rules questions. :) I love answering rules questions! :D I'm a nerd, I know ... But yeah, I also got to watch someone win through a fully active Urzatron engine with multiple Eldrazi out. It looked like he had a combo of Eternal Witness and Cryptic Command going to tap down his monsters and bounce his Witness. Fun! Reminds me of that weird deck that a Japanese pro player played last year. It looked like a lot of fun, and I wanna try playing something like that.
Yay, Magic! :)
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