I wanted to start this post with a thought I had at Magic this week :
My decks don't want me to take first place.
After the last month I began to wonder if my decks conspire against me when I'm not around.
I played Classic 5cc this week, (I also played it last week but didn't bother with a writeup) and I was pretty confident with my chances for a top spot. I used Charles Gindy's list from nationals as the base and then made changes for my meta (ie lots of creatures/no faeries). I'll post the list up here later as an update.
First Round: U/W Angels
My first opponent is Aaron, and I know his deck from previous weeks. I do what my deck does, counter or kill his early drops and cast Cruel and Broodmate for the win. His angels come down too late to make a difference, although he had my life down in one game because my first removal was Hallowed at 5 mana.
Second Round: Treefolk
I'm paired against Nelson running Treefolk. He beat me with this deck two weeks ago, so I was looking for some sweet revenge.
I let him play a bunch of dudes in the first game, letting Leaf Crowned Elder come in and kinship the next turn so I can hallowed burial all of them and gain board advantage.
The second game is depressing for him when he keeps a two land hand and I proceed to counter every card he plays that produces or searches for mana. I win keeping him down and casting Cruel.
Third Round: Red Burn
Mike is my opponent thIs round with a ton of hasty damage. I'm able to keep his damage down with Essense Scatter vs Ball Lightning. He starts drawing into land, allowing me to Cryptic-fog until I find an answer.
Game two Ajani goes the distance with good timing and counterspell backup. I Cruel a few times after Ajani goes ultimate and get the W.
By this point I was 6-0 on game wins and feeling good. It was going to be Tim and me in the finals battling it out for first, and I was feeling positive about the kithkn matchup.
Fourth Round: Kithkin
I know that Tim has lapse of certainty in the sideboard to mess me up after the first game, so winning is crucial here.
I get stuck on 4 lands with one Hallowed and one Broodmate in hand. He runs me over when I have no answer to super pumped Figure of Destiny.
Game two I get stuck on 5 mana when he plays back-to-back Lapse of Certainty on Hallowed Burial and I die.
I'm pretty bummed at this point because kithkin has been my bane for about a month, no matter what I bring out against it. Sigh
If anyone has any new ideas feel free to post them in the comments or on FB. I really like the deck but I'm tired of banging my head against the X-1 door.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
The Tim Trainwreck Special
This week I want to discuss a new deck that my friend Tim built recently. Tim is one of those people that is a genius at deckbuilding and always plays strong lists that have innovation and power.
I playtested with Tim piloting it against all of my other decks: Calderaquin, Merfolk, and Warp World. All of these are solid, if not strong, so it seemed like a decent challenge. I got blown out. It was a slaughter, with the exception that if I could Warp in time I could steal a win once in a while.
After playtesting, I decided to try out the Tim special for myself the list is as follows:
4 Putrid Leech
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Lord of Extinction
2 Path to Exile
4 Doom Blade
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Captured Sunlight
2 Behemoth Sledge
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
The land base for this deck looks like a typical 5 color control deck, so I don't think I'll post it. After testing the deck all afternoon, we started FNM feeling good
Round One:
I lose the roll and keep a hand that is a bit removal heavy, but has good mana and a Leech. My opponent drops Island and passes.
I drop the Leech next turn and swing a few until he hits 5 mana and Traumatizes me. That's about it, Leech literally gets in for 20 damage.
Game two was more interesting. My opponent gets Traumatize into Haunting Echoes and gets every card except one Path, two Lords of Extinction, and 7 lands. I still get the win with Lord and the Finks from the previous turn since he fails to draw mill.
Round Two;
I get blown out by Treefolk of all things! He gets unanswered Leaf Crowned Elder both games and I lose to kinship triggers firing every turn. Crazy matchup where I'm probably favored, but lack removal. This is important later on in the night.
Round Three:
I'm playing against my friend Kyle who was 2-0 at this point. My tiebreaks must be amazing.
I know his deck well, 4 color blood. This is very winnable for me because my lifegain is superior and some of his cards are less effective against me.
He gets there in game one after I draw 5 straight lands, and I get him in game two after he draw 5 straight lands. Strange times in magicville.
Game three takes forever. I play something, he answers. He plays something, I answer. We finally get close to time and I pull ahead off of Captured Sunlight into Putrid Leech. We go to 5 turns, and just as it looks like I might get the win, he topdecks Finks to gain life and block. I was dissappointed since I probably could have taken it eventually, but oh well.
Standing at 1-1-1 was not optimal.
Round Four:
Paired against one of my best friends Adam. I don't have much trouble as he gets mana screwed to hell and dies. Fin
I talk to Tim at this point and find that he's gone 4-0, beating the treefolk deck in the finals. I was a little bummed that I didn't perform as well, but I was glad the deck took first anyway. It's a potent little burrito and I look forward to playing more with it soon.
Comments on the list welcome!
- Ken
I playtested with Tim piloting it against all of my other decks: Calderaquin, Merfolk, and Warp World. All of these are solid, if not strong, so it seemed like a decent challenge. I got blown out. It was a slaughter, with the exception that if I could Warp in time I could steal a win once in a while.
After playtesting, I decided to try out the Tim special for myself the list is as follows:
4 Putrid Leech
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Lord of Extinction
2 Path to Exile
4 Doom Blade
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Captured Sunlight
2 Behemoth Sledge
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
The land base for this deck looks like a typical 5 color control deck, so I don't think I'll post it. After testing the deck all afternoon, we started FNM feeling good
Round One:
I lose the roll and keep a hand that is a bit removal heavy, but has good mana and a Leech. My opponent drops Island and passes.
I drop the Leech next turn and swing a few until he hits 5 mana and Traumatizes me. That's about it, Leech literally gets in for 20 damage.
Game two was more interesting. My opponent gets Traumatize into Haunting Echoes and gets every card except one Path, two Lords of Extinction, and 7 lands. I still get the win with Lord and the Finks from the previous turn since he fails to draw mill.
Round Two;
I get blown out by Treefolk of all things! He gets unanswered Leaf Crowned Elder both games and I lose to kinship triggers firing every turn. Crazy matchup where I'm probably favored, but lack removal. This is important later on in the night.
Round Three:
I'm playing against my friend Kyle who was 2-0 at this point. My tiebreaks must be amazing.
I know his deck well, 4 color blood. This is very winnable for me because my lifegain is superior and some of his cards are less effective against me.
He gets there in game one after I draw 5 straight lands, and I get him in game two after he draw 5 straight lands. Strange times in magicville.
Game three takes forever. I play something, he answers. He plays something, I answer. We finally get close to time and I pull ahead off of Captured Sunlight into Putrid Leech. We go to 5 turns, and just as it looks like I might get the win, he topdecks Finks to gain life and block. I was dissappointed since I probably could have taken it eventually, but oh well.
Standing at 1-1-1 was not optimal.
Round Four:
Paired against one of my best friends Adam. I don't have much trouble as he gets mana screwed to hell and dies. Fin
I talk to Tim at this point and find that he's gone 4-0, beating the treefolk deck in the finals. I was a little bummed that I didn't perform as well, but I was glad the deck took first anyway. It's a potent little burrito and I look forward to playing more with it soon.
Comments on the list welcome!
- Ken
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Hello again internet,
Ken here again motivated and ready to post some content relevant to whats going on with me so here we go:
I went to our Friday Night Magic tournament this week with a deck that has been doing well since the US Nationals: Makeshift Mannequin Redux is what I have been calling it. One of the first decks I played when I first started taking Magic seriously was the original Mannequin deck that revolved around evoke and controlling the board with blue bounce cards, counterspells, and unfair advantage generated by the interaction. This new deck uses red for control instead of the old blue and plays similarly, if not better. I had pretty good testing matches and read a ton about the deck before I built it.
Last week was the first time I tried it out, and I took it to a 3-0-1 finish, which was high enough to net me second place out of a number in the high twenties, so I figured I would play it this week.
I felt good about the matchups in my meta, which are generally aggro decks, with a few strange (and powerful) control decks trying to keep everyone in check. About 32 people show up and we have to put up extra tables. This is always a great start: more rounds equals more fun!
1st Round:
I'm paired up against someone who looks like he's about 10? Definitely on the younger side, but I've learned in the past to never underestimate a younger player after getting blown out once by a youngling playing an excellent red/black deck.
I keep a decent hand, 2 Fallouts, 2 Shriekmaws, 2 Lands and a Putrid Leech. I'm gonna control the first couple turns for sure, and hopefully he's playing something fast and aggro-ish. 25 lands in the deck so one more should not be hard to draw.
He wins the roll: drops turn one Goldmeadow Stalwart. Excellent, I think. This should be one of the better matchups for me, and I'm packing 2 Fallouts in hand. I draw and Exotic Orchard, play a Vivid, and pass.
I drop my Forest, a Leech, and pass it over. At this point I realize that between the lands in play and my hand, I have one red mana producer. Sad face. He drops Spectral Procession. Sadder face.
I draw a couple turns and get another Vivid, which doesn't go the distance when he drops Ajani.
I go to the sideboard and put in Deathmark. Excellent card in the matchup and I can take out the Anathamancer! Dead cards for good cards seems good.
Game two I make a horrific error: I decide to Maelstrom Pulse his Spirit tokens because he had double Honor of the Pure out and 9 damage next turn. This is a failure because chances are with my deck, I can get a Fallout or Caldera Hellion out more often than I can Pulse. I die when he plays Cloudgoat Ranger and the Fallout I draw is now a dead card.
I take a couple minutes after this match and realize I am an idiot. I've lost the first round against a good matchup by failing to play well. But there's always the next match...
2nd Round:
My opponent plays 2 cards during this entire match: Akrasan Squire and Stoic Angel. I run this dude over (aparently mana screwed) with Bloodbraid Elf. Yeehaw.
3rd Round:
My opponent opens with the Merfolk dual land. I think this may be a good thing for me since I love to kill everything. I soon find out that my deck hates me terribly, drawing into 3 lands and then another Anathamancer that can hit him for... one damage? He gets Soverigns, I get no Pulse, and thats all she wrote for that one.
Second game can be summed up in two words: Harm's Way. This card is a headache and a half. He redirects damage by playing TWO Harm's Way in a turn to redirect Putrid Leech damage back to me. Thats a 6 point life swing back to myself.
After killing myself with my own Leech, I took a minute to think about life. Things were looking grim to me. My deck should be punishing people, but instead I'm punishing myself with play mistakes and terrible luck all rolled into one. I've gotta stay focused and give my deck a pep talk at this point.
4th Round:
This match was pretty good overall for me but I did have one moment where things looked grim: he played 3 Battlegrace Angels. Without a Pulse or a tricky two-for-one, I was gonna be out of it. A timely topdecked Cloudthresher fixed this problem when coupled with a Fallout. Score one for the alliance.
5th Round:
This round was definitely a blowout. Its funny how I remember very little from the rounds like this. My deck played the curve like it should, and I was rewarded with the big W. He played blue/white and the hardest decision this game was whether to Fallout or Pulse at one point. Whenever I find myself in this position, it seems the best decision is always wait for the Pulse.
*end games*
3-2 Record and some disappointment from misplaying a great deck.
I rip a couple packs of Alara Reborn because M10 is sold out everwhere. A Deathbringer Thoctor and a Fight to the Death. "This is a bummer day" I think to myself and push back the rare to reveal..... a Foil Uril the Miststalker! This card is not Standard playable, but is one of my favorite Generals in Elder Dragon Highlander! So my general has been upgraded to Foil!
This made me smile, and even though I really didn't gain much from the day (except for the time when I thought about how terribly I played) it was overall a positive experience.
Thanks to everyone who made this Friday a great day and hope to see as many people or more next week!
~Ken
Ken here again motivated and ready to post some content relevant to whats going on with me so here we go:
I went to our Friday Night Magic tournament this week with a deck that has been doing well since the US Nationals: Makeshift Mannequin Redux is what I have been calling it. One of the first decks I played when I first started taking Magic seriously was the original Mannequin deck that revolved around evoke and controlling the board with blue bounce cards, counterspells, and unfair advantage generated by the interaction. This new deck uses red for control instead of the old blue and plays similarly, if not better. I had pretty good testing matches and read a ton about the deck before I built it.
Last week was the first time I tried it out, and I took it to a 3-0-1 finish, which was high enough to net me second place out of a number in the high twenties, so I figured I would play it this week.
I felt good about the matchups in my meta, which are generally aggro decks, with a few strange (and powerful) control decks trying to keep everyone in check. About 32 people show up and we have to put up extra tables. This is always a great start: more rounds equals more fun!
1st Round:
I'm paired up against someone who looks like he's about 10? Definitely on the younger side, but I've learned in the past to never underestimate a younger player after getting blown out once by a youngling playing an excellent red/black deck.
I keep a decent hand, 2 Fallouts, 2 Shriekmaws, 2 Lands and a Putrid Leech. I'm gonna control the first couple turns for sure, and hopefully he's playing something fast and aggro-ish. 25 lands in the deck so one more should not be hard to draw.
He wins the roll: drops turn one Goldmeadow Stalwart. Excellent, I think. This should be one of the better matchups for me, and I'm packing 2 Fallouts in hand. I draw and Exotic Orchard, play a Vivid, and pass.
I drop my Forest, a Leech, and pass it over. At this point I realize that between the lands in play and my hand, I have one red mana producer. Sad face. He drops Spectral Procession. Sadder face.
I draw a couple turns and get another Vivid, which doesn't go the distance when he drops Ajani.
I go to the sideboard and put in Deathmark. Excellent card in the matchup and I can take out the Anathamancer! Dead cards for good cards seems good.
Game two I make a horrific error: I decide to Maelstrom Pulse his Spirit tokens because he had double Honor of the Pure out and 9 damage next turn. This is a failure because chances are with my deck, I can get a Fallout or Caldera Hellion out more often than I can Pulse. I die when he plays Cloudgoat Ranger and the Fallout I draw is now a dead card.
I take a couple minutes after this match and realize I am an idiot. I've lost the first round against a good matchup by failing to play well. But there's always the next match...
2nd Round:
My opponent plays 2 cards during this entire match: Akrasan Squire and Stoic Angel. I run this dude over (aparently mana screwed) with Bloodbraid Elf. Yeehaw.
3rd Round:
My opponent opens with the Merfolk dual land. I think this may be a good thing for me since I love to kill everything. I soon find out that my deck hates me terribly, drawing into 3 lands and then another Anathamancer that can hit him for... one damage? He gets Soverigns, I get no Pulse, and thats all she wrote for that one.
Second game can be summed up in two words: Harm's Way. This card is a headache and a half. He redirects damage by playing TWO Harm's Way in a turn to redirect Putrid Leech damage back to me. Thats a 6 point life swing back to myself.
After killing myself with my own Leech, I took a minute to think about life. Things were looking grim to me. My deck should be punishing people, but instead I'm punishing myself with play mistakes and terrible luck all rolled into one. I've gotta stay focused and give my deck a pep talk at this point.
4th Round:
This match was pretty good overall for me but I did have one moment where things looked grim: he played 3 Battlegrace Angels. Without a Pulse or a tricky two-for-one, I was gonna be out of it. A timely topdecked Cloudthresher fixed this problem when coupled with a Fallout. Score one for the alliance.
5th Round:
This round was definitely a blowout. Its funny how I remember very little from the rounds like this. My deck played the curve like it should, and I was rewarded with the big W. He played blue/white and the hardest decision this game was whether to Fallout or Pulse at one point. Whenever I find myself in this position, it seems the best decision is always wait for the Pulse.
*end games*
3-2 Record and some disappointment from misplaying a great deck.
I rip a couple packs of Alara Reborn because M10 is sold out everwhere. A Deathbringer Thoctor and a Fight to the Death. "This is a bummer day" I think to myself and push back the rare to reveal..... a Foil Uril the Miststalker! This card is not Standard playable, but is one of my favorite Generals in Elder Dragon Highlander! So my general has been upgraded to Foil!
This made me smile, and even though I really didn't gain much from the day (except for the time when I thought about how terribly I played) it was overall a positive experience.
Thanks to everyone who made this Friday a great day and hope to see as many people or more next week!
~Ken
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