Standard, 2/19/13

Hi everybody!

So I played the $10 Buy-A-Box Standard event last night, rocking the usual Sphinx's Spam deck. I made exactly one change since last Tuesday: I swapped a Rhox Faithmender out of the sideboard for a Tamiyo. I figured I could use some more game against midrange, and landing a Tamiyo against a Wolf Run or even Drownyard seems pretty legit. Anyway, here's what happened:

Round 1: vs. R/w Aggro. Cacklers, Zealots, Reckoners, Hellriders, oh my! Well, it seemed as though I got the perfect draw both games against him, and it didn't seem like it was that close. I stalled, gained some life, swept the board, gained more life, etc. I think I beat him down with Thragtusk and friends one game and milled him out the other. I'm starting to think my deck is stabilizing nicely against the myriad red-based aggro decks of the field. 1-0.

Round 2: vs. Esper Control. Cool! Unlike a lot of others, I actually like control mirrors. So much more interesting tension than whether or not I draw the sweeper before I die to beats. Anyway, this one was kinda like pulling teeth. I was the beatdown deck, since all he played for creatures was Lingering Souls and Obzedat. I dealt with one Obz, but he played another one. I tried beating down with 'tusks and Angels, but he kept finding ways to keep his life total out of range. I tried landing Jace, but I probably went for it too quickly, and I was unable to protect him from the Detention Sphere that came down, and I wasted a counter-bait on an Oblivion Ring trying to free him. Then, I couldn't quite finish the beatdown before I got Drown'd. Game two we ran out of time. I had board position, but he stalled me just long enough to keep from dying. I had been holding onto Merciless Eviction, thinking about using it to get rid of his two Blind Obediences, but for whatever reason I didn't pull the trigger. I probably should have--he probably extorted me 10 times over the course of that game, and almost as many during the first game. The ETB-tapped thing was a minor inconvenience, but the extort was just annoying. 1-1.

Round 3: vs. Boros. I had good draws and he didn't. Neither game was really that close. I landed a Sphinx's Revelation for 10, and he volunteered to scoop if I just showed him the Thragtusk. I showed him 2-3 plus a Rhino Monk. After the match, the judge asked me, "You're done already?" I pointed out that against red deck, the games are over one way or the other after like turn 5. Either I'm at 0 life and I lost or I'm at 20+ and I won. Also, Thragtusk is really good. 2-1.

Round 4: vs. Naya Midrange. I felt pretty good about this. It's like Jund Midrange, but without Rakdos's Return. Well unfortunately, they have the Loxodon Smiter to apply significantly more pressure, and between that and Garruk, Primal Hunter and Kessig Wolf Run, I just couldn't keep up. One game, I managed to wipe his board and catch him in topdeck mode and got there with a single Thragtusk, but the other two games, I just couldn't draw my sweepers. 2-2.
Some thoughts:

I think my aggro matchup is pretty decent now. I need to focus on midrange and control now.

Oh! So there was a Pro Tour this weekend, right? Yeah, so I was pleased as punch that Melissa De Tora got Top 8, both for the glass-ceiling-breakage, but also because it was with Bant Control! Of course, her version (that others were also running) was much more creature-centric than my version. I'm happy to just stall and mill out. They want to win Wolf-Running a dood. I think it's a pretty solid plan, but I was skeptical about the efficacy of it with Boros Reckoner in the format. That guy *wants* me to play creatures and try to block. But after losing horribly to Esper, I can see why they wanted more red-zone action. Esper is much better at playing for the long game .. stalling and milling. Plus, they have Obzedat. Dude's annoying.

So, what do I do? Do I change my deck and play more creatures? I had already decided I wanted to play *less* creatures prior to last week's tournament. I don't know.

The other thing is Naya Midrange. I thought my deck was pretty favorable against that one, since they seem to rely more on creatures, and I rely on sweepers. I think maybe I just got bad draws. I know the first game of that match I kept a questionable hand game one, which had no green source to cast my Farseek until turn 4-5. If I'd had the green source turn 1-2, I think I was holding onto a couple of board wipes. I could have saved my O-Ring for Garruk instead of Huntmaster ... So I dunno. Maybe I don't need to change anything there.

So .. Esper. I wonder, then, if I should go on the Geist plan against them. Obviously, they can't kill it directly. I could hold onto Azorius Charms for their Souls blockers. I do like the Merciless Eviction against them, though. They run all kinds of random crap that I would like to be able to get rid of (okay, mostly enchantments and planeswalkers). Sometimes I wonder if I need more countermagic. I love countermagic. Maybe a Dispel? Maybe another Jace?

Along those lines, I also don't think I like Blind Obedience in my own deck. I think between Feelings of Dread, A-Charms, and board wipes, I should be able to stem early tides against red aggro. Hellrider sucks, but if they kill me on turn four with it, I was probably dead anyway, right? I thought about it .. the Extort doesn't really matter against them that much. Red decks are all about mana efficiency: they want to get as much damage as they can with as little mana as they can. I have to play the reverse role: prevent as much damage as I can with as little mana as I can. Blind Obedience doesn't do that. Best case, it'll stop maybe 2-4 damage from haste critters. Thalia-ing myself just to drain a point of life isn't what I want to do. It's not a good path to victory--that's what Thragtusk and Mill are for.

I think I'll leave my deck the way it is for now. There are a few more events coming up within the next week, so depending on how I do there, I may or may not tweak it. Friday I'll probably play FNM at Mox Mania again, and then Game Day and Gatecrash Draft at Mox on Saturday, and of course, next week's Win-A-Box. There's also a Modern PTQ coming up, so I think I'll give my Modern deck a whirl next Monday at Mox in preparation for that; well, if I don't help out as a Judge for that event, that is.

Anyway, thanks for reading!