Ergh, sorry for not posting in two weeks! I have been rather preoccupied, but that doesn't mean I haven't been playing Magic... last weekend I went 3-1 in the swiss rounds, but I had to leave before the 4th round was over to go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Excellent movie, by the way. Totally fuckin' awesome.
Anyway, that tourney wasn't worth reporting on since I didn't see it through to the end. This Friday's tourney was pretty good though.
Round 1 was against Daniel with a W/B deck with allegedly a lot of removal but he didn't draw all that much removal against me (or lands for that matter), but it didn't help matters that I got nearly god-tier draws. Game 2 my opening 7 was this: Forest, Plains, Mystic Rainforest, Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Lotus Cobra, Sovereigns of Lost Alara. Yeah, I couldn't have stacked my deck and done better!
Round 2 was Conlon playing my deck but with Vengevines. Ugh, I hate this matchup, but we both got sub-par draws. My deck won simply by virtue of the fact that everything I draw is either a mana source or a massive must-answer threat. I drew a tad too much mana, but his deck was preforming a tad slower than it should have been, so everything I drew was relevant. One game our decks seemed to be having a battle of who could draw the absolute worst! I ended up winning the match, again bases simply on threat density.
Round 3 was against Jeremy Bright playing B/R infinite turns. Game 1 was a fairly quick kill, despite him drawing 37 Lightning Bolts that game. Sheesh. Game 2 was brutally tough and ended with him taking infinite turns. Game 3 was one of the most epically tough games ever. It all game down to this:
He was at 12 life, with me at 10 life. He had two fully-leveled Coralhelm Commanders, tapped, so 10 power of Flying damage on the table. I have a Knight of the Reliquary and a single Bird Token and 6 lands. No mana dorks. Two cards in hand, a Jace and a Sovereigns. He had some # of tapped lands, but two lands open, a Mountain and an Island, with 4 cards in hand (I think).
I untapped after taking the merfolk beating to the face, blocking one with a Bird token (I had two at that point) and going to 10. I untapped and drew a second Jace (not helpful!). It's important to note two more details here: one is that among my lands on the board I had a Sejiri Steppe (most KotR decks only run 1), and two is that I already KNEW he had an Into the Roil in hand from a Treasure Hunt earlier in the game.
Now, he rightly knew he's dead if I had Sovereigns, so he left two up. Presumably he left those two mana up for the Roil, anticipating me swinging out of nowhere for 12 (his life total). However, he had two or three other unknown cards in hand as well. If one of them was a Mana Leak, I was screwed.
I spent a good long while agonizing over what to do: go for the win with Sovereigns or play it safe by casting Jace and bouncing a Merfolk. Now, the Sovereigns plan was solid, as I had a second Steppe to save me from Into the Roil. IF, and this was a big If, he ONLY had Into the Roil and nothing else (Lightning Bolt would have been just as bad as Mana Leak) I won. He didn't know I had a second Steppe, as most deck only play 1 of them. Jace might have been a bad play regardless, but if I attempted Sovereigns and he flashed Leak, I was dead. So I really thought about trying to be careful and play it safe. However, in the end I decided to just go for broke.
I tapped out for Sovereigns, and he just nodded at the inevitability of it all. I acted like I was trying to decide weather to swing with the bird or the Knight for a second and then seemed to settle on the bird. He went for the Into the Roil as I had hoped and, I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. I tapped the KotR and went digging for Steppe #2. I was halfway through the deck and hadn't found it yet, when I started to remember thinking about taking the second one out! I began to get nervous and right then Jeremy asked if I was even running two of them (in a tone that suggested I shouldn't have two in the deck). I answered honestly: "I'm not sure, I may have taken it out". But... there it was after all. I show him the Steppe and he scoops 'em up offering a "good game". Indeed! Very intense.
Top 4: I play Trey, piloting Naya Shaman. It wasn't easy, but I got there with some luck and the uber-dense threat package my deck offers. During Game 1, Trey casts Bloodbraid Elf cascading into a Basilisk Colar - the ONLY non-creature card in his deck (other than land, obv) - when all he needed was a blocker for one turn. Finest Hour made a rare appearance and was critical in one game. I never seem to draw that card, but when I do, it wins like mad.
Top 2 was me and Jeremy again, but neither of us wanted to play that out so we split.
A fun tourney, some epic games. And I beat Conlon, so that was nice.
Showing posts with label type 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label type 2. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
FNM Tourney report 08/06/10
Small turnout tonight, as GenCon is going on. Lame. Oh well. Anyway, before the tournament started I swapped out the last two Sea Gate Oracles still in the deck for two Fauna Shamans. I don't have the Vengevines but I still figured it couldn't hurt to have a way to turn a late-game BoP into a more useful threat such as Baneslayer or Sovereigns. Finding Sovereigns more consistently can only help, right?
So like I said, small turnout, and not a great deal to report, but I had a few epic games.
Round 1: Up against Mono-red, I lose game one due to a combination of an explosive hand on my opponent's side of the board vs. my really, really slow hand. If he'd been dumb enough to let my Noble Heirarch live, I'd still have been just fine and dandy, but I really needed that mana and he knew it.
Game two was a tough battle, but Jace 2.0 and a single Dragon Claw kept my head just above water. I stabilized at 2 life and then got a one-shot kill with Rafiq + Conscription. That might have been game three, actually. Don't remember. I know I won both games with Conscription (big surprise), but details are a bit fuzzy. The one detail I do remember is that I was at 2 or 3 life when I won those games, so it was a very close match.
Round 2: Ugh, paired against Chad. He's playing the R/G Eldrazi deck that he played to help me test my Bant deck originally... I destroyed him then, and my deck is even better now, so he just conceded the match on the spot so we could play EDH instead.
Round 3: Daniel with a sort of W/U control, I guess. Not the standard net-deck variety, I don't think. Anyway, it was an uphill battle. It seemed hopeless for me when he dropped a Mystifying Maze. That seemed the perfect foil for my Conscription plan. However, I drew into a Finest Hour which was the perfect foil to his perfect foil. He could stop ONE Conscription but to follow it up with a second one in the same turn? Yeah, that was a bit tougher to deal with. So fighting through all that removal and Spreading Seas and what-not, not to mention him getting his Jace out first in one game, it was tough, but I pulled out the miraculous win.
Top 4: Chad again. This time he gives it a go, but his deck fucks him over. My deck performs pretty badly, in one game I had to pitch a Sovereigns to Fauna Shaman to go get a Baneslayer. I had Rafiq out already, but couldn't get through, so I needed a flyer, or a sixth land. I couldn't seem to get the 6th mana, so I finally just cashed in for a BSA and then drew the 6th land immediately after! Go figure. However, BSA + Rafiq was just as much of a problem for him as Sovereigns would have been, and on to Game 2. Game 2 was much the same with my deck drawing poorly and being very, very slow, but somehow his deck managed to be just a tad bit slower still, and I eventually won a match that left both of us rather annoyed with our decks.
Finals was a rematch with Daniel and his WB control deck. It was not a match either of us really wanted to play. Even though I won the first round, and felt I could pull it off again if I had too, it's just more effort and every play requires intense thought to win. Fortunately prize support worked out that we just split for two packs apiece, and we were both glad not to have to play it out all over again.
My packs were TERRIBLE: Clone and a Traumatize. Ugh. The BEST thing in my packs was a Crystal Ball. Whoopie. Still, it was a good time, and my deck continued to serve me well, even when it drew badly, it managed to not suck TOO much.
So like I said, small turnout, and not a great deal to report, but I had a few epic games.
Round 1: Up against Mono-red, I lose game one due to a combination of an explosive hand on my opponent's side of the board vs. my really, really slow hand. If he'd been dumb enough to let my Noble Heirarch live, I'd still have been just fine and dandy, but I really needed that mana and he knew it.
Game two was a tough battle, but Jace 2.0 and a single Dragon Claw kept my head just above water. I stabilized at 2 life and then got a one-shot kill with Rafiq + Conscription. That might have been game three, actually. Don't remember. I know I won both games with Conscription (big surprise), but details are a bit fuzzy. The one detail I do remember is that I was at 2 or 3 life when I won those games, so it was a very close match.
Round 2: Ugh, paired against Chad. He's playing the R/G Eldrazi deck that he played to help me test my Bant deck originally... I destroyed him then, and my deck is even better now, so he just conceded the match on the spot so we could play EDH instead.
Round 3: Daniel with a sort of W/U control, I guess. Not the standard net-deck variety, I don't think. Anyway, it was an uphill battle. It seemed hopeless for me when he dropped a Mystifying Maze. That seemed the perfect foil for my Conscription plan. However, I drew into a Finest Hour which was the perfect foil to his perfect foil. He could stop ONE Conscription but to follow it up with a second one in the same turn? Yeah, that was a bit tougher to deal with. So fighting through all that removal and Spreading Seas and what-not, not to mention him getting his Jace out first in one game, it was tough, but I pulled out the miraculous win.
Top 4: Chad again. This time he gives it a go, but his deck fucks him over. My deck performs pretty badly, in one game I had to pitch a Sovereigns to Fauna Shaman to go get a Baneslayer. I had Rafiq out already, but couldn't get through, so I needed a flyer, or a sixth land. I couldn't seem to get the 6th mana, so I finally just cashed in for a BSA and then drew the 6th land immediately after! Go figure. However, BSA + Rafiq was just as much of a problem for him as Sovereigns would have been, and on to Game 2. Game 2 was much the same with my deck drawing poorly and being very, very slow, but somehow his deck managed to be just a tad bit slower still, and I eventually won a match that left both of us rather annoyed with our decks.
Finals was a rematch with Daniel and his WB control deck. It was not a match either of us really wanted to play. Even though I won the first round, and felt I could pull it off again if I had too, it's just more effort and every play requires intense thought to win. Fortunately prize support worked out that we just split for two packs apiece, and we were both glad not to have to play it out all over again.
My packs were TERRIBLE: Clone and a Traumatize. Ugh. The BEST thing in my packs was a Crystal Ball. Whoopie. Still, it was a good time, and my deck continued to serve me well, even when it drew badly, it managed to not suck TOO much.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
FNM Report: 07-30-10
So I made it to FNM on Friday evening... new store in town called Dragon Crown over at 61st and Lewis. Pretty cool place, check 'em out. Anyway, I decided to play up there anticipating a more intimate venue as opposed to the massive throngs at Castle. I was not far off the mark, and it was a modest turn-out, and there were only two people in the store that I didn't already know. It certainly made for a more enjoyable experience, as I like playing with familiar faces.
Making the finals helped as well. Unfortunately I was a bit too distracted to take any real notes, and the few details I did write down I misplaced! However I can give a pretty good rundown from memory, but to the two gentleman I played that I met for the first time on Friday, I'm sorry I don't remember your names. I never remember names the first time off, so forgive me.
Anywho, I was playing Bant of course. My round 1 opponent was sporting a newly built Mono-Black artifact deck. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite had time to test and fine-tune it, but it had some note-worthy ideas. Triskelion + Steel Overseer is pretty obvious, but he added Basilisk Collar to the mix for maximum effect - quite a brilliant touch I must say. Phylactery Lich was also in attendance, naturally. The removal suite, however, was a no show for my opponent, and good ol' Sovereigns got there in no time. We played a few more games for fun and practice after the match officially ended and suddenly his deck started performing better! I hate when that happens.
Round 2 was a tough match up as my opponent was sporting the R/B Pyromancer's Ascension deck that can take infinite turns. Fortunately I dialed in on the right strategy against this type of deck: Run out threats as aggressively as you possibly can, to force them to exhaust their resources burning your guys and staying alive, rather than giving them breathing room to concentrate on getting an Ascension online. Don't be afraid to run out threats right into a Lighting Bolt. Chances are they'll get the Ascension up and running, but once they do, they've got so little fuel left they'll run out of steam. He did go off game two, but I managed to eke out a win in game three.
Round 3, Nathan was playing Jund, but offered to ID into top 4, which seemed like a good idea, so I gladly accepted. We played one game for fun, which I narrowly won, but Jund is not a fun matchup by any means, so I was still pretty glad we'd drawn.
Top 4, I played R/B Infinite turns again, and this time he was better prepared for this match-up. It was harder to get him to waste his Bolts, and either he sideboarded a little better this time, or he just drew into more of his 'boarded cards. However, I had no choice but to stick to my guns and just try to go all out.. One game, my opponent managed to get the Ascension online, and had the Time Warp in hand. I was tempted to concede but I realized he had no real hand left, so I let him take his free turns. He ended up taking something like 3 or 4 turns in a row, but then on the last turn drew a land, and ran out of steam.
Finals! Yeah, my old nemesis Jim Mattingly. (Sorry if I spell it wrong!). Ugh, this was brutal. He exploded with green mana, Primeval Titans and huge fuck-off Eldrazi faster than even Lotus Cobra could manage. It didn't help that against the fastest, deadliest deck I'd fast, my deck decided to give me the worst draws of the night. Game 1 I might have had a chance if I'd drawn one more land, but it was still a mercifully short match, with him taking both games in near-record time. Jeez, I might have to retool my whole SB just for this matchup!
All told, getting to the finals was awesome, even if it was a very small field to begin with. It definitely shows that my deck is solid, I just need to work on the sideboard a little more, and tighten up my plays. I did make a few errors, and while none of them cost me any games, the very easily could have. I'll probably keep tinkering with this deck until the Shards block rotates out and takes a huge chunk of some of my favorite cards of all time away from me... :(
Making the finals helped as well. Unfortunately I was a bit too distracted to take any real notes, and the few details I did write down I misplaced! However I can give a pretty good rundown from memory, but to the two gentleman I played that I met for the first time on Friday, I'm sorry I don't remember your names. I never remember names the first time off, so forgive me.
Anywho, I was playing Bant of course. My round 1 opponent was sporting a newly built Mono-Black artifact deck. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite had time to test and fine-tune it, but it had some note-worthy ideas. Triskelion + Steel Overseer is pretty obvious, but he added Basilisk Collar to the mix for maximum effect - quite a brilliant touch I must say. Phylactery Lich was also in attendance, naturally. The removal suite, however, was a no show for my opponent, and good ol' Sovereigns got there in no time. We played a few more games for fun and practice after the match officially ended and suddenly his deck started performing better! I hate when that happens.
Round 2 was a tough match up as my opponent was sporting the R/B Pyromancer's Ascension deck that can take infinite turns. Fortunately I dialed in on the right strategy against this type of deck: Run out threats as aggressively as you possibly can, to force them to exhaust their resources burning your guys and staying alive, rather than giving them breathing room to concentrate on getting an Ascension online. Don't be afraid to run out threats right into a Lighting Bolt. Chances are they'll get the Ascension up and running, but once they do, they've got so little fuel left they'll run out of steam. He did go off game two, but I managed to eke out a win in game three.
Round 3, Nathan was playing Jund, but offered to ID into top 4, which seemed like a good idea, so I gladly accepted. We played one game for fun, which I narrowly won, but Jund is not a fun matchup by any means, so I was still pretty glad we'd drawn.
Top 4, I played R/B Infinite turns again, and this time he was better prepared for this match-up. It was harder to get him to waste his Bolts, and either he sideboarded a little better this time, or he just drew into more of his 'boarded cards. However, I had no choice but to stick to my guns and just try to go all out.. One game, my opponent managed to get the Ascension online, and had the Time Warp in hand. I was tempted to concede but I realized he had no real hand left, so I let him take his free turns. He ended up taking something like 3 or 4 turns in a row, but then on the last turn drew a land, and ran out of steam.
Finals! Yeah, my old nemesis Jim Mattingly. (Sorry if I spell it wrong!). Ugh, this was brutal. He exploded with green mana, Primeval Titans and huge fuck-off Eldrazi faster than even Lotus Cobra could manage. It didn't help that against the fastest, deadliest deck I'd fast, my deck decided to give me the worst draws of the night. Game 1 I might have had a chance if I'd drawn one more land, but it was still a mercifully short match, with him taking both games in near-record time. Jeez, I might have to retool my whole SB just for this matchup!
All told, getting to the finals was awesome, even if it was a very small field to begin with. It definitely shows that my deck is solid, I just need to work on the sideboard a little more, and tighten up my plays. I did make a few errors, and while none of them cost me any games, the very easily could have. I'll probably keep tinkering with this deck until the Shards block rotates out and takes a huge chunk of some of my favorite cards of all time away from me... :(
Monday, July 19, 2010
FNM Report 07/16/10
So my first outing with the new deck, and my first FNM in a very long time, went pretty well. I didn't get to stay, though, as it was a long tournament and we had to get to Inception (amazing film, BTW). But I did go 3-1 in the swiss rounds, losing to W/B control.
Before the tournament I was able to acquire some of the missing cards for my deck. I purchased a Noble Hierarch and a Misty Rainforest at Castle. I also snagged a Basilisk Collar for the Sideboard. I also traded for a 3rd Sovereigns so that replaced the 3rd Rafiq. Most importantly of all, though, were the two Baneslayer Angels I picked up.
My first round opponent, John, was sporting a G/W deck he admitted that he'd pretty quickly cobbled together just to use some new M11 cards. It was basically a quick weenie deck with Ajani's Mantra thrown in. Presumably he had some Ajani's Pridemates as well, but they didn't make an appearance in our very fast games. Game 1 was the longer of the two, thanks to my opponent casting 2 or 3 Path to Exile, but once I stuck a Sovereigns of Lost Alara, it was over in no time. Game 2 could have been worse, as he played 3 Mantras in a row, and started gaining quite a bit of life. Fortunately I didn't see any Paths, and a Bird of Paradise with two Conscriptions put it away handily.
Round 2, I played Dakota, who was running W/B control. I lost this match, but it was a good fight. Game 1, he couldn't draw Day of Judgments, but Jace advantage still eventually won him the game. I was drawing way too much land and mana guys, not enough real threats. Still, as badly as I drew, it was close. Game 2 was worse for me, as I got a 3rd turn Baneslayer, hit with it once, then lost it to Day of Judgment. Then, every threat I dropped was eventually neutered by removal, countermagic, or Jace, Mindsculptor.
I didn't catch my opponents name in Round 3, so sorry whoever you are. They were playing Mono Red, a homebrew version sporting some cheap burn and some goblins. Didn't see much of the deck, though. Lost game two due to mana screw. I kept a one-lander with two cobras and two heirarchs, and even with the one land, I was in good shape until he played Earthquake for 1. Oh well. Games 1 and 3, though, I put away quickly enough.
Round 4, I found myself up against Open the Vaults, piloted by a young man named Kyle; a deck I wasn't expecting to see. Fortunately game 1 was all about him digging, digging, and digging, but never finding an Open the Vaults. Game 2 I sided in 3 Qasali Pridemages, and 3 Negates. I ended up drawing all 3 Pridemages, and they worked well enough that I never needed the Negates. At one point, my opponent dropped a Font of Mythos after playing a Howling Mine previously. I let the Mine stick, then when he dropped the Font, I waited until my turn so that I got 3 extra cards, then blew both the Mine and Font with Pridemages. Thanks for the cards, man!
At this point, I stood a very high probability that I would get into the top 8, but the hour was late and we didn't have long to get to the theater, so I gave Kyle the win anyway, as I needed to drop. It'd be pretty poor form to ruin someone's chances to make it into top 8, only to then abandon the slot myself.
And for what it's worth, I made the right call - Inception was totally worth dropping for.
Anyway, the deck did okay, but I am worried about the W/B control match-up. However, during the tournament I was able to trade for 2 more Celestial Colonnades, so that might help. And I am adding Dauntless Escorts to the Sideboard for Day of Judgments.
I'll try again next week, after I do a bit more fine tuning.
Before the tournament I was able to acquire some of the missing cards for my deck. I purchased a Noble Hierarch and a Misty Rainforest at Castle. I also snagged a Basilisk Collar for the Sideboard. I also traded for a 3rd Sovereigns so that replaced the 3rd Rafiq. Most importantly of all, though, were the two Baneslayer Angels I picked up.
My first round opponent, John, was sporting a G/W deck he admitted that he'd pretty quickly cobbled together just to use some new M11 cards. It was basically a quick weenie deck with Ajani's Mantra thrown in. Presumably he had some Ajani's Pridemates as well, but they didn't make an appearance in our very fast games. Game 1 was the longer of the two, thanks to my opponent casting 2 or 3 Path to Exile, but once I stuck a Sovereigns of Lost Alara, it was over in no time. Game 2 could have been worse, as he played 3 Mantras in a row, and started gaining quite a bit of life. Fortunately I didn't see any Paths, and a Bird of Paradise with two Conscriptions put it away handily.
Round 2, I played Dakota, who was running W/B control. I lost this match, but it was a good fight. Game 1, he couldn't draw Day of Judgments, but Jace advantage still eventually won him the game. I was drawing way too much land and mana guys, not enough real threats. Still, as badly as I drew, it was close. Game 2 was worse for me, as I got a 3rd turn Baneslayer, hit with it once, then lost it to Day of Judgment. Then, every threat I dropped was eventually neutered by removal, countermagic, or Jace, Mindsculptor.
I didn't catch my opponents name in Round 3, so sorry whoever you are. They were playing Mono Red, a homebrew version sporting some cheap burn and some goblins. Didn't see much of the deck, though. Lost game two due to mana screw. I kept a one-lander with two cobras and two heirarchs, and even with the one land, I was in good shape until he played Earthquake for 1. Oh well. Games 1 and 3, though, I put away quickly enough.
Round 4, I found myself up against Open the Vaults, piloted by a young man named Kyle; a deck I wasn't expecting to see. Fortunately game 1 was all about him digging, digging, and digging, but never finding an Open the Vaults. Game 2 I sided in 3 Qasali Pridemages, and 3 Negates. I ended up drawing all 3 Pridemages, and they worked well enough that I never needed the Negates. At one point, my opponent dropped a Font of Mythos after playing a Howling Mine previously. I let the Mine stick, then when he dropped the Font, I waited until my turn so that I got 3 extra cards, then blew both the Mine and Font with Pridemages. Thanks for the cards, man!
At this point, I stood a very high probability that I would get into the top 8, but the hour was late and we didn't have long to get to the theater, so I gave Kyle the win anyway, as I needed to drop. It'd be pretty poor form to ruin someone's chances to make it into top 8, only to then abandon the slot myself.
And for what it's worth, I made the right call - Inception was totally worth dropping for.
Anyway, the deck did okay, but I am worried about the W/B control match-up. However, during the tournament I was able to trade for 2 more Celestial Colonnades, so that might help. And I am adding Dauntless Escorts to the Sideboard for Day of Judgments.
I'll try again next week, after I do a bit more fine tuning.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I HAVE RETURNED!
I supposed I should explain that cryptic title, eh? Well, about a year ago - actually almost exactly a year ago, give or take a week or two - I lost a whole bunch of my Magic shit. Two or three EDH decks, a 250-card Highlander deck, and about 10 or so 60-card decks. All in all it was a devastating loss and I nearly quit Magic over it. I never could quite give up the game, though, and all this last year I've been playing casually, mostly EDH and some 60-card multiplayer.
I have attended very few tournaments or events since then, basically just a few limited events like Prereleases and whatnot. But tomorrow night I finally make my return to Type 2, or Standard as they call it now. I am optimistic, but a bit nervous.
Here is the decklist I will be running tomorrow night:
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Heirarch
3 Lotus Cobra
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Rafiq of the Many
3 Emeria Angel
2 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
2 Elspeth, Knight Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Finest Hour
2 Eldrazi Conscription
6 Forest
3 Plains
3 Island
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Sejiri Steppe
1 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Sunpetal Grove
Basically, I knew I wanted to play Bant for several reasons. First, I just prefer aggro to control, especially when I an unfamiliar with all the ins and outs of the metagame. Second, I really frickin' love Bant and have loved it since the day Shards of Alara dropped. Rafiq, and Finest Hour are my two favorite cards from the whole block. Thirdly, Bant is tearing it up right now, going toe-to-toe with Jund and the control decks.
I don't like to Net-deck, as I consider myself to be a pretty good deck builder. However, going into this format unprepared, it seemed like it would be fair of me to at least study the top decks right now for some pointers. Again, I knew I wanted to play Aggro, and the best choices were between Bant and Jund. Jund is good, but I don't really like it. Maelstrom Pulse and Blightning are the only two cards in the deck that really excite me, whereas almost everything in Bant is awesome and fun. Also, there are such a wide array of styles of Bant deck out there now that I felt I could probably come up with a fairly broad mix that encapsulates the best parts of all of them. At least then it wouldn't be a straight card-for-card netdeck. I could add my own flair to it, as it were.
So I spent a few weeks reading up on various Bant archetypes, and came up with the above list. Mostly it is a hybrid of the Mythic and Conscription styles, but whereas most players choose between the Rafiq/Finest Hour package and the Sovereigns/Conscription duo, I wanted to run both packages. The Conscription aspect is definitely more consistently powerful, but Finest Hour is just a ridiculously powerful card, if it sticks, and Rafiq is too much fun to pass up. Basically the Rafiq/Finest Hour setup is just a REALLY good Plan B if the Conscription route doesn't pan out.
I also borrowed the Sea Gate Oracles from Next-Level Bant. I was originally planning to run Sphinx of Lost Truths as well, but in a fit of inspiration I chose to run Emeria Angel instead, for her amazing synergy with Knight of the Reliquary. And I have a feeling she will help combat opposing Mind Sculptors.
Now, a few odd things about the deck you might have noticed... I am short one Lotus Cobra and one Noble Heirarch. Fortunately, 2 extra BoP's make up for this deficit quite well, but ultimately, the deck would be just a tiny bit better with the traditional set up of 4 Heirarch, 4 Cobra and 2 BoP, but it seems to work fine as is.
Also I am missing one Misty Rainforest, which is a bit more of an issue than I thought, but is still not a deal breaker. More critically, I am short three (!) Celsetial Colonnade. Ouch. This won't matter much... until I play W/U Control. Then I'm probably in trouble. Hopefully I'll be able to buy/borrow/trade for a couple more before the tournament. If not I'll have to hope for an aggro heavy metagame.
One other change I'd really like to make is to swap out 1 Rafiq for 1 more Sovereigns. That seems like a very good swap, but alas I only own two Sovereigns. Another thing I'll be on the look out to acquire tomorrow.
My sideboard is a different story altogether.
3 Path to Exile
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Great Sable Stag
1 Basilisk Collar
3 Negate
3 Qasali Pridemage
All I could squeeze in for the RDW matchup is a single Basilisk Collar. Yikes! I probably need 3 or 4 Rhox War Monks too, but I have no clue what among the above list I don't need. After tomorrow's tournament, I should be able to come up with a much better sideboard list.
The sideboard, far more than the main deck, should be heavily informed by the local metagame, but since I haven't played in a year, I opted mostly for the most versatile answer cards I could find. I don't think there's even a blue/black archetype right now, so the Great Sable Stags are iffy, but I'll find out the hard way tomorrow.
I'll try to jot down some notes about match-ups and any cool plays, and write up a report of the tourney sometime this weekend. Not Friday night, though... going to see Inception!! Woot!
I have attended very few tournaments or events since then, basically just a few limited events like Prereleases and whatnot. But tomorrow night I finally make my return to Type 2, or Standard as they call it now. I am optimistic, but a bit nervous.
Here is the decklist I will be running tomorrow night:
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Heirarch
3 Lotus Cobra
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Rafiq of the Many
3 Emeria Angel
2 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
2 Elspeth, Knight Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Finest Hour
2 Eldrazi Conscription
6 Forest
3 Plains
3 Island
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Sejiri Steppe
1 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Sunpetal Grove
Basically, I knew I wanted to play Bant for several reasons. First, I just prefer aggro to control, especially when I an unfamiliar with all the ins and outs of the metagame. Second, I really frickin' love Bant and have loved it since the day Shards of Alara dropped. Rafiq, and Finest Hour are my two favorite cards from the whole block. Thirdly, Bant is tearing it up right now, going toe-to-toe with Jund and the control decks.
I don't like to Net-deck, as I consider myself to be a pretty good deck builder. However, going into this format unprepared, it seemed like it would be fair of me to at least study the top decks right now for some pointers. Again, I knew I wanted to play Aggro, and the best choices were between Bant and Jund. Jund is good, but I don't really like it. Maelstrom Pulse and Blightning are the only two cards in the deck that really excite me, whereas almost everything in Bant is awesome and fun. Also, there are such a wide array of styles of Bant deck out there now that I felt I could probably come up with a fairly broad mix that encapsulates the best parts of all of them. At least then it wouldn't be a straight card-for-card netdeck. I could add my own flair to it, as it were.
So I spent a few weeks reading up on various Bant archetypes, and came up with the above list. Mostly it is a hybrid of the Mythic and Conscription styles, but whereas most players choose between the Rafiq/Finest Hour package and the Sovereigns/Conscription duo, I wanted to run both packages. The Conscription aspect is definitely more consistently powerful, but Finest Hour is just a ridiculously powerful card, if it sticks, and Rafiq is too much fun to pass up. Basically the Rafiq/Finest Hour setup is just a REALLY good Plan B if the Conscription route doesn't pan out.
I also borrowed the Sea Gate Oracles from Next-Level Bant. I was originally planning to run Sphinx of Lost Truths as well, but in a fit of inspiration I chose to run Emeria Angel instead, for her amazing synergy with Knight of the Reliquary. And I have a feeling she will help combat opposing Mind Sculptors.
Now, a few odd things about the deck you might have noticed... I am short one Lotus Cobra and one Noble Heirarch. Fortunately, 2 extra BoP's make up for this deficit quite well, but ultimately, the deck would be just a tiny bit better with the traditional set up of 4 Heirarch, 4 Cobra and 2 BoP, but it seems to work fine as is.
Also I am missing one Misty Rainforest, which is a bit more of an issue than I thought, but is still not a deal breaker. More critically, I am short three (!) Celsetial Colonnade. Ouch. This won't matter much... until I play W/U Control. Then I'm probably in trouble. Hopefully I'll be able to buy/borrow/trade for a couple more before the tournament. If not I'll have to hope for an aggro heavy metagame.
One other change I'd really like to make is to swap out 1 Rafiq for 1 more Sovereigns. That seems like a very good swap, but alas I only own two Sovereigns. Another thing I'll be on the look out to acquire tomorrow.
My sideboard is a different story altogether.
3 Path to Exile
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Great Sable Stag
1 Basilisk Collar
3 Negate
3 Qasali Pridemage
All I could squeeze in for the RDW matchup is a single Basilisk Collar. Yikes! I probably need 3 or 4 Rhox War Monks too, but I have no clue what among the above list I don't need. After tomorrow's tournament, I should be able to come up with a much better sideboard list.
The sideboard, far more than the main deck, should be heavily informed by the local metagame, but since I haven't played in a year, I opted mostly for the most versatile answer cards I could find. I don't think there's even a blue/black archetype right now, so the Great Sable Stags are iffy, but I'll find out the hard way tomorrow.
I'll try to jot down some notes about match-ups and any cool plays, and write up a report of the tourney sometime this weekend. Not Friday night, though... going to see Inception!! Woot!
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