skaro
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by skaro on Sept 14, 2012 20:28:29 GMT -6
R2R review lolz!
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Sept 17, 2012 18:42:18 GMT -6
If I was gonna lick a card, it would have to be weird (heh).
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Sept 26, 2012 17:47:45 GMT -6
How is this shizznit for Zedruu: And this goes in just because of the word "filibuster": (The Zedruu deck is named "Gubmint Cheese" btw...)
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skaro
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by skaro on Sept 27, 2012 12:02:43 GMT -6
Now hold on there sir, I don't know if that is such a good idea adding those cards to your deck. Maybe we should debate this further before we vote. What does ever one else think about Ixos adding the cards? (adds one counter)
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Post by redshirt on Sept 27, 2012 15:50:59 GMT -6
I have it on good authority that those cards once belonged to the Communist Party. There is no way in Hell that those cards belong in a good red blooded American deck, by God!!
They might even be Homosexual's!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Sept 27, 2012 17:51:52 GMT -6
Removes counter due to damage inflicted on self upon seeing redshirt's new avatar...
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Sept 28, 2012 18:30:58 GMT -6
Oh Dear God: (official site uncooperative, so check this). I know you don't want to read that, so I'll just copy/paste the relevant parts: Also: KARADOR gonna love him some black dragon action! ;D
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Sept 30, 2012 19:09:43 GMT -6
[[You might want this for reference. And then you'll have to click on ALL CARDS. If you're actually that interested...]] Today was not only skaro’s birfday, but it was also the pre-release for Return to Ravnica. I, like everybody else, loved the original Ravnica block, and when skaro told me about this new set however long ago, it didn’t take much to convince me to participate. Now, cool thing about this event is that you get to pick one of 5 guilds to belong to, and you get a special guild pack to open; this pack will contain cards from that guild (UR, BR, UW, GW, and BG, which are Izzet, Rakdos, Azorius, Selesnya, and Golgari respectively). And there are 5 different promo cards (instead of just the one), one for each guild, and you get to play with that promo in your deck. Sweet! Normally I would play Rakdos at something like this (or, well, those colors). I normally always liked control type decks in constructed Magic, but prefer simple brute force for limited. This time, though, I decided to go against type and roll with Izzet. It’s control colors, but a different kind of control than what I’m used to (actually, I guess the kind of control I’m used to is pretty similar to my usual MO with sealed decks…). But I thought, what the hell, it’s a prerelease, I don’t care if I win (winning would be nice, though), and I ought to challenge myself with something unusual. Plus, all the cool kids seemed to agree that Izzet was weak. So I can’t go wrong there. Also, I dig the mad scientist vibe of the guild (Spoiler Alert – my deck isn’t very mad scientist…). In addition, I really wanted a Hypersonic Dragon (Izzet’s promo card) for EDH. So instead of a bunch of boring stuff about what happened before the thing started, I’ll get right to my deck. You don’t want to read the aforementioned boring stuff, anyway, even though it would be very well-written, entertaining, and possibly life-changing. You just don’t know what you’re missing. They finally start handing out everybody’s guild packs, and proceed to order us into our seats. We learn that this will be our seating for the first round. There are six long tables in the room, and they pack us all together on three of them. I’m a fatass, but I’m svelte compared to half the people there. This aggression will not stand! Josh (dude in charge) was finally convinced to spread us out a little (thank you skaro, you sexy bitch!). Anyway, I’m going Izzet, skaro has Selesnya, and so does Cyrus. Hadn’t seen Cyrus in a long, long time, and he seems to be doing well. Anyway, I save my guild pack for last and open the other 5, pulling some good cards, most of which will not find a way into my deck (got a couple things for KARADOR, and a totally unfair card that I think will go in Visara, but possibly Sol’kanar, I’m not sure yet). And then we get to the guild pack where I find the one, the only, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. Boo-fricken-yah. (Spoiler Alert – my initial assessment of this card turned out to be overly optimistic.) I got a little bit of removal in the form of burn, some combat tricks from blue that I figured I would be unable to play to their fullest potential, and not enough fliers (although two bigass dragons, well, that’s pretty cool). In fact, besides the dragon brothers, my critters were all pretty puny. I did pull 3x Goblin Electromancer and 3x Guttersnipe, and I thought there had to be something there. I mean, the Electromancers would make all my instants and sorceries cheaper, and the Guttersnipes would deal damage to my opponent whenever I cast said instants and sorceries. I agonized over the precise critter to spell ratio, and in the end I just said fuck it and went about half and half. To whit: GoldNiv-Mizzet, Dracogenius (5/5 flier, he deals dmg I draw, UR he deals 1) Hypersonic Dragon (4/4 flier, haste, my sorcs are instants) 2x Goblin Electromancer (my sorcs and instants cost 1 less) (that’s it?!) BlueStealer of Secrets (my big-breasted Ophidian) Inaction Injunction (detain a dude, draw a card, sorc) 2x Downsize (-4/-0 to one or all bad guys, instant) 2x Paralyzing Grasp (dude don’t untap, ench) 2x Inspiration (draw 2, instant, great flavor text) Red3x Guttersnipe (I cast inst or sorc, opponent burn for 2) 2x Viashino Racketeer (he comes in I discard and draw) Lobber Crew (pokey wall) Annihilating Fire (Incinerate for 3, inst) Explosive Impact (burn for 5, inst) Electrickery (burn for 1 one or all bad guy critters, inst) Street Spasm (Earthquake 1 or all bad guys, inst) ArtifactChromatic Lantern (tap for any color, and all my lands do it too) LandIzzet Guildgate (tap for U or R, cip tapped) 8x Island 8x Mountain Stuff I Left OutI generally hate this section cause I always see things that should have been in the deck all along. Not so this time, at least not as bad as usual. I only pulled 3 counterspells (and only one of em was any good), so I elected to bench them. I had a third Downsize, and a third Electromancer, and they should have maybe found a place in the deck, but I can’t really think of anything I wish I didn’t have. I had a couple fliers and a bouncy guy (and one of the fliers bounces my own guy), but what do I take out for any of that? I was very open to the idea of splashing a third color (B or W for removal), but I didn’t get much, and little of it splashable. I did have a UW bouncy spell, and the UW guildgate (and my super mana rock), but considering my quasi-legendary mana problems, I decided to not push it. Actually, and I’m embarrassed to admit this, I toyed with the idea of cutting a land or two from 17 down to 16, and/or adding a single additional spell (either an Electromancer or a Downsize); Spoiler Alert – I’m glad I didn’t! I did pull a Frostburn Weird (1/4 for 2, can +1/-1 himself for U or R), and he maybe should have been in there. Also a 5/4 haste guy for 6 cmc, but I didn’t like him much. Upon further reflection, the Viashino Racketeers were a little underwhelming, so maybe they should have been replaced. I dunno, though. What the Deck Was Supposed To DoI was honestly pretty happy with how this deck turned out. It had a very low mana curve, and while I would have liked more removal, I had heard that this format was pretty slow, so I hopefully wouldn’t need to race anybody. The plan was to draw a ton of cards, which would be instants and sorceries, and then cast them to burn or draw more, while my Guttersnipes are melting bad guy face. I figured my two dragons would end up being “win-more” cards, but Niv was totally on-theme in the drawing/burning department. I was pretty confident, or at least more confident than I thought I would be. Oh, side note, I think there were only 3 ppl playing Izzet today. Out of like 38. Me, Josh (the guy running the thing), and some skinny red-headed chick that I don’t think knew what she was doing. Damn, was she having fun, though! Selesnya had the most representatives; it was a veritable tree-hugging hippy commune in there. Except for one very vocal Rakdos player; he was on the verge of being irritating, well, he was irritating (actually there were two of em, but I never found myself wanting to punch either of em in the face, so they didn’t get too bad, I guess). What the Deck DidRound 1 – Greg, Selesnya (GW) Greg is a big black dude, and he was wearing leather bracers on his wrists and inch long claws on his fingers. Like, sharp claws. The first thing I noticed was the claws, obviously; the second thing was that he wasn’t using sleeves for his cards. Now, this is an important point; I learned long ago that brand new cards do not play nicely with lands from the Ice Age (heh, these are the jokes, kids). The lands, due to age and use, tend to stick together, whereas the new cards are still shiny and slick; new cards will slide around each other when shuffling, old lands will not, and they tend to stick together like old people at the Nick Nack Café. This is incredibly pertinent information, as you will see very shortly. So naturally the first thing I say to him is: “Dude, I gotta ask, what’s up with the claws?” (You thought I was gonna mention his lack of sleeves, didn’t you?) He says that he’s going to be wearing them for his Halloween thing, and that said Halloween thing is three days long (bwah? dude must really like Halloween), and that he figures he better practice with them since he stabbed himself and others with them half a dozen times the night before. A Magic tournament seems to him to be a good venue in which to get used to them as it would require a bit of manual dexterity when manipulating cards. I agree, and mentioned that I would normally shake his hand before and after our match, but yeah; he said prolly best not to. So we shuffle (him clumsily) and we’re off. Game 1 – He mulligans once. I get out an Electromancer, I think. He gets out maybe one land. Electromancer beats on him for a couple turns, and then my Hypersonic Dragon comes out. He scoops disgustedly. Game 2- I think it was at this point that I mention his lack of sleeves. I begin to explain why I use sleeves (oh, I forgot to mention my new sleeves! My old sealed deck sleeves were all scrungy and shit, so I decided that it was time for new ones. I purchased a pack of sleeves with the image of 3 tasty slices of bacon on them, and the words mmm…bacon. Oh yes, everything goes better with bacon! I also saw the need for a new deck box to keep them in – it’s green – and since I want to be one of the cool kids, I also purchased a bright orange playmat. I know, shut up.). Uh, where was I? Oh yeah, no sleeves on Claw-dude (I was about to call him Claw-boy, but that might be construed as racist, and I don’t want the ACLU breathing down my neck…). He tells me everything I was going to tell him about it, except in a far less eloquent way, and in a manner which still makes me wonder why the hell he wasn’t using them if knows all this. Whatever. This game he mulligans twice, but does play a Codex Shredder (I think it’s called); it mills me for one every turn. He managed a little more mana this game, but I don’t think he managed much else. I beat on him with my 2/2s, maybe a little Guttersnipe action in there. I played Niv-Mizzet, and toyed with the idea of trying to be cool, but in the end I just burned him out. 1-0 Round 2 – Amber, Golgari (GBw) Amber is a short, plump chick, easy to get along with, told me my Cthulhu shirt was cool (it is – thanks for the compliment!). Now, I must admit - to my embarrassment - that I went into this game assuming that she had gotten lucky (as I had) in her first match; I mean, no offense to female Magic players, but they are usually not as cut-throat as guys (I say “guys” here, since few of the people I saw at the tournament today could be considered men; no offense, guys). It’s a simple fact that most of the women I’ve played against are only playing because it’s something the boyfriend/husband is into, and she wants to be a part of it. And, therefore, most women I’ve played against aren’t very good. I do, however, enjoy when the well-endowed ones try to distract me with their endowments. It even works, sometimes. (Was that sexist? Probably. Am I sorry? Not really.) (And, just to be totally honest, I’ve played against many women who ended up kicking my ass. That’s just the exception to the rule.) Game 1 – If I remember correctly how this went, we both spent some time building up. At one point, she smacked me for 7. I returned the favor for 6. She decided to not leave herself open for that noise, anymore. I think that before this attack, I was trying to remember the exact steps of declaring attacks, declaring attackers, priority, all that shit that I suck at. I pondered calling a judge just for clarification, just so I would understand what I was intending (and assuming that she wouldn’t). In the end, I decided to just swing. Shortly thereafter, somebody from across the room hollered “Judge!” Amber stood up and said, “yo!” BWAH?! She made a ruling from right where she was standing. Okay, no more taking this chick lightly. And she had a good deck, too, so there’s that… I think the board state was her with some dudes, me with my pinger wall and a couple Guttersnipes. I believe that I cast an Inspiration (4 to her face), and drew into Explosive Impact; next turn, 9 to her face. Game 2 – Amber had some rather unladylike words to say about Guttersnipe (crap, now Claire McCaskill is gonna come after me). Myself, I’m like, aw yeah, dat’s my goblin. This game, she had some unleash dudes (they get 1 bigger but can’t block), but I managed to keep them in check. I hit her for 2 steadily, prolly from Guttersnipe triggers. And then down comes Armada Wurm (he’s 5/5 and makes a copy of himself when he hits play, and, let me check the one I pulled…yep, they both trample). Crud. This doesn’t look good. I take em both to the face once, dropping me to 8. I draw a Downsize on my turn, and cast it when she swings on hers, blocking both wurms and dealing 4 to her with my ‘Snipes. She’s at 7. My turn, I cast Inspiration, 4 to her, and draw…fuck I don’t know, but it was an instant I could cast. And she dies spewing much profanity about Guttersnipe. 2-0 Okay, so my deck beat an opponent that put up a fight. I’m feeling pretty good. And a few minutes later, while smoking outside with skaro and some random dudes, Josh comes out and tells me that I won a door prize. I’m now feeling even better. The door prize is a Consecrated Sphinx. Now I’m feeling great! Round 3 – Gemini, Azorius (UWg) Yeah, the dude’s name is Gemini. He’s a big dude, and is wearing a t-shirt that reads “I’m Fat, Fuck Off.” I consider this to be awesome. Dude doesn’t seem too friendly, though. For all I know, he’s a good guy, but he just kinda has an air about him that tells me I wouldn’t hang out with him, you know. Game 1 – I’m dealing some damage to him with my pinger wall, he’s dealing more to me with fliers. Gah! In my defense, I got a slow start (but that would be a defect with the deck, would it not?). I think I got a couple dudes out, but I had to chump block with them just to try and put up some kind of fight. Gemini’s deck used the detain mechanic to good effect against me (detain says that the critter can’t attack, block, or used activated abilities til the detainer’s next turn). I was able to convince myself that I was making a comeback until he played Archon of the Triumvirate. It detains 2 dudes when it attacks. And I didn’t have anything worth detaining. Well, I did next round when I played Niv-Mizzet, but by then it was far too late. Game 2 – I thought about siding in some counters, and then decided against it. All I knew was that I had to save a way to deal with that goddam Archon. My opening hand had such a way in the form of Paralyzing Grasp. I thought, okay, I can do this. Unfortunately, I didn’t see my shit (which would be Guttersnipes and spells). I used the Grasp on something non-Archon but big. And then he played Armada Wurm. Fuck. To add insult to injury, he had a dude that ate my graveyard while gaining him life. I worked hard to deal damage, and he still ended at 17 life. 2-1 Round 4 – skaro, Selesnya (GWb) Well, skaro and I always have to play each other at some point in every tournament we attend, and this was no exception (note that “every tournament” might be an exaggeration). And he’s a tree hugging hippy. Dude… Game 1 – this game was very boring because he didn’t do anything. He never drew any W mana, and I just beat down on him with my 2/2s. I don’t think I did anything cool. Game 2 – he got mana screwed early, which gave me time to set up with some Guttersnipe action. I’m taking chunks out of him 4 at a time, and at this point I start thinking about maybe getting an achievement on my Izzet achievement card. Eh, I can’t get em all, and all you get for doing it is an attaboy, so just like nevermind. He did get some threats and beat me down to 9, but with him at 9, I cast Inspiration on his eot (I had 2 Guttersnipes), and then on my turn I finished him with burn + ‘Snipe. 3-1 Round 5 – Erica, Selesnya (GW) Erica is short and plump, rather cute, quiet, and she also told me that my Cthulhu shirt is cool (what is it with chicks and Great Old Ones? Or is it Elder Gods? I can never remember which Cthulhu is…). And it seems that I complete her set of Izzet decks – she’s played against all of them at the tournament (3 or 4; and she will make my 3rd hippy deck). She is also surprised at how well she’s doing; she’s 2-1-1, and says that her deck is the first she’s ever played that she’s made herself. This inspires confidence in me, even though I’m not taking her lightly (see Round 2 above). Game 1 – I got mana screwed horribly (2 Islands I think, with a hand full of red cards). She curb stomped me. No other way to describe it. Game 2 – sonuvabitch if it didn’t happen again. I get a very slow start, and she takes advantage of this by beating on me with extreme prejudice. I begin to make a slow recovery, but am forced to trade my Main Men (Guttersnipes) in combat to try to survive. I get in a few swings, drop her to 12 over the course of several turns. I’m at 6, and she has a bunch of dudes with toughness at or under 3. All her critters are at or under 3, in fact. On her eot, I Inspiration with a ‘Snipe in play (her to 10, me at 6). I draw Street Spasm. I do some quick counting…yes! I have 7 mana with an Electromancer in play. I can Spasm for 3 all 4 of her dudes! My turn I untap and draw another Guttersnipe. At that exact point, I realized that this was the turning point in the game. I consider playing the second ‘Snipe, holding the Spasm til next turn, and then hitting her harder when I wipe her board. That would be a cool thing to do. She has one card in hand, three lands untapped. She’s playing GW. I think about it for a second. Can I withstand another attack from her little army? I think I can. I mean, I’ll surely draw another land so that I can still Spasm, and I can block dudes so that I’ll survive. My ‘Snipes will live, she’ll take 4, she’ll be down to no resources, and I can brag about doing something cool. And I’m like, no. You can’t do that. Wipe out her army right now. Kill her guys, deal 2 to her, swing with your dudes, kill her next turn. So I cast the Street Spasm (which will kill all her dudes, remember). She looks at her hand, looks at her mana. I’m like, “no, you can’t do anything, why would you want to do anything?” She taps her mana and plays Rootborn Defenses, which makes all her dudes indestructible. I leap out of my chair, scattering cards, dice, and carbonated beverages in a maelstrom of frustration, shaking my fists at the heavens, screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!” I didn’t really do that. But I wanted to. Instead, I slump my shoulders. Erica says, “tee hee, that’s the first time I’ve played that card when it really mattered.” 3-2 Round 6 – Ben, Rakdos (BR) I had been warned just before this match to be on the lookout for a dude named Ben who was doing some shady shuffling. I thought this might be the guy. If so, I would shuffle his deck (which I don’t like to do, but if a dude is trying to cheat, I’ll shuffle his shit). He didn’t display the indicated signs, so everything was cool. And as a sidenote, this is the deck that I would normally play. It’s how I roll in sealed events. I was afraid I knew what to expect. Game 1 – remembering my previous mana screw, I kept a land heavy hand. I think my opening hand was a Viashino Racketeer, Hypersonic Dragon, and land. And I drew more land, and more land, and more land. WTF? Meanwhile, Ben’s deck spit out scary monsters. One after another. It wasn’t pretty. Game 2 – I declare that something is wrong with my deck and decide to mana shuffle. Now, we all know what mana shuffling is, but Ben seems surprised when he sees me do it. He says that I’m the only person he’s ever seen do this. We have a small conversation about why we do it. I get finished mana shuffling and regular shuffling, and we’re onto the game. (I should note that Ben seemed a bit aloof when we first sat down to play, but he became more and more amiable as I displayed my charm and winning personality. Might have had something to do with the fact that he kicked my ass game 1…) This game he came out gangbusters again, but I managed to put up a fight. He used unleash on all his dudes (makes em 1 bigger but they can’t block, remember). He’d punch, I’d counterpunch. Well, his punches were more like punches; mine were more like agonizing on the math of do I block or take this, how much damage can my ‘Snipes deal if I hold off on this spell, if I cast the ‘Snipe now will I draw a land so that I can Inspiration next turn and still have mana for this burn spell, that kind of thing. I told him several times that I’m not trying to stall, it’s just that this game is too hard. He said it was cool, he knew I wasn’t doing shady stuff, but he didn’t seem as amused as I’d like. Endgame, I draw Street Spasm with mana to cast it and kill all his dudes. Now, I remember last round against Erica where my Spasm sputtered spectacularly. And I’m not real confident with it this game. But, dude is playing BR; BR can’t save their critters like that. I think about it, but it’s really no question; I’m at 2, I have to play it now or lose. So I play it. He takes damage from my ‘Snipe, his guys all die, and I swing for the win. Game 3 – my opening hand looked to have everything it needed to play its game. It wasn’t enough. His guys came out way too quick. I was back on my heels the whole time, and it was pure and simple beatdown. My notes have my life going 20, 18, 13, 3, dead. His life didn’t change. I told Ben that his critters were big and scary. He said that was the point. I said I know. 3-3 Well, that was disappointing. My dragons, my boys, yo, they were pretty underwhelming for the whole tournament. I know that I ended up blocking a Bigass Demon against Ben with Niv-Mizzet (who had a Stab Wound on him), and using a bigass burn spell to finish it (I HATED doing that, but could see no other way out). That was a game I lost (I had no other choice, though). In another game, I cast Hypersonic simply to have a blocker against a centaur token that was beating on me. I lost that game, too. But when the deck worked, it worked. It’s a glass cannon, I guess. If I get my shit, gg. If I don’t (or if you’re monstrous like Ben’s deck), ouchie. I don’t know if I should blame my mediocre performance on the deck or on my gameplay. I honestly think the deck is close to the best I could build it given my pool. I could have made better choices during games, as always. Could I have focused too much on Guttersnipe while building it? Maybe. I mean, Guttersnipe was awesome when I got him rolling, but otherwise, not so much. Maybe it was my mindset; like I said, I’m a brute force guy in sealed, so maybe I was playing too much out of character for this kind of deal. Hell, I dunno. The deck was fun to play, but it seemed to be back on its heels far too often. skaro finished 4-2 after Swiss and had a chance to make top 8. Unfortunately, he finished 9th overall, missing the cut by just that much. I ended up 14th (bwah?). I thought that the Izzet guild might take it in the silly guild war thing (highest win percentage by guild gets extra swag; I did okay, Josh did great, skinny redhead chick didn’t do well at all), and I mentioned this to a kid when he said that Selesnya had it in the bag. Kid was like, it goes by wins, and hippies have it by a lot. Me and skaro explained that no, it goes by win percentage, doesn’t matter how many wins until you figure in losses as well. Josh announced that Selesnya had won it, and the kid looks at me all smug-like and goes “said so.” Damn, kid’s an asshole. So skaro, as a treehugger, got a dice bag (he picked the wrong one, btw), to go along with his full achievement card slash birthday loot (did I mention that earlier? He got some birthday loot. IIRC, it consisted of a deckbox, some sleeves, a couple oversize cards, possibly more sleeves, and a planeswalker of some sort. Nice haul, yo.). After that we returned to skaro’s house where lilgamerchick displayed her viola skills (and how cool is the viola? Pretty fucking cool.), we played some Rocksmith (and I realized that I need to pick up another bass and learn how to play it), and I ate one of the best steaks I have ever eaten in my life (Evergirl can cook a steak!). We also watched a couple three episodes of Dr. Who; I have decided that I will try to give the show another chance, despite my better judgment. I then went home, took a really good shit, and drank a few beers while writing a 5000+ word tournament report. Good God! If you’ve read this far without stabbing your eyes out, you’re a better man than I. Crud, I was about to quit without talking about how I would change the deck. I can’t see many changes, honestly. Maybe a card or two, but I think I did about as good as I could do with this pool. Now, having said that, I do see a constructed deck here. With some dedicated burn and draw, this thing feels nasty. I’ll need one more Guttersnipe, another Electromancer, and real burn and draw spells. Maybe a few counters just to keep people honest (heh). All the cool kids (skaro seemed to be the ringleader) were talking about Epic Experiment all night for this kind of deck. Card is cool, and I wouldn’t mind having several for my deck, but I don’t think that’s the direction I want to take this. Seems too tricksy, too combo, y’know. I wanna draw, burn, and counter (a little bit). Sure, Epic Experiment would be awesome for my version, but I don’t want to focus on it. Guttersnipe was definitely the all-star, but I think that I may have realized that from the beginning and focused too much on keeping him around and waiting for alpha strike action. But, like I mentioned before (prolly multiple times), when the deck worked, it worked. My dragons were disappointing, and the Chromatic Lantern was just a generic mana rock (I have enough discipline to still tap “correctly” even if all my lands produce anything); that Lantern will be an EDH staple, though (skaro pointed that out, and I agree with him). Maybe the Lantern should have been Electromancer #3? Or possibly Downsize #3; that card was more often than not effectively a Fog, which my deck seemed to like, and which I was seldom unhappy to find in my hand. Inaction Injunction didn’t do much but draw me a card; the detain mechanic kicked my ass in one match, but for my deck (which didn’t focus on it) it wasn’t that cool. Viashino Racketeer was kinda meh, maybe should have been something different (like my 2 bouncy guys?). I liked all my burn, just wish I had more. Okay, I’m done. I might have a follow-up on this if I manage to put together a Type 2 version of this deck and play it somewhere.
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skaro
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by skaro on Oct 1, 2012 8:26:33 GMT -6
Round 2-Amber Amber is a judge. Amber does not know as much as she thinks she does. I find it rather easy to put her into positions where she makes wrong choices.
Round 4- skaro, I don't know about this guy.
Round 5- Erica, I enjoyed reading this part. It was kind of strange reading this though because I know both of you, it was like I could see you guys playing. Erica is the store manager at Slackers, is an honest to god gamer (we are talking NES to Resident Evil) and yes, very cute.
Round 6 Ben, no this was not shady-shuffle-Ben. I pulled two epic experiments, my version will be coming soon and it is looking good! Combo good! Did you know rewind is in 2013? Did you know a rewind for free off of an epic experiment is kind of like a blue dark ritual? ;D
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Oct 1, 2012 17:18:43 GMT -6
Like a blue Dark Ritual, only better!
Oh, and regarding Round 2 with Amber, I may have jumped to conclusions. And you know more than anybody about Magic (possible slight exaggeration); get your damn Judge cert, yo.
How did you do on Day 2? Other than getting two Epic Experiments, that is.
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skaro
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by skaro on Oct 1, 2012 19:10:18 GMT -6
Went with Rakdos, pulled Carnival Hellsteed to go with the promo one and a Rakdos, Lord of Riots. Went 3-0 and then IDed to get into the top 4 out of 10 people. Got paired against Scott. First game he gets mana screwed and scoops and bitches. Second game I get mana screwed and think "challenge excepted weak game mechanic!" without complaining, bitching or whining. And I almost do it. Game 3 was much, much better but he pulls it out in the end. Afterwards Scott walks up with 3 packs in one hand and 7 or so in the other. He asks me if I want to pick my own packs. Never pick your own packs from Scott! He hands me the three in the first hand and I pull a blood crypt, chromatic lantern and another epic experiment! Guess I win any way! Let me tell you about the Lord of Riots. I was having as much fun as the skinny red headed girl from the first day. At some point RMS and I started singing Zoot Suit Riot by the cherry poppin daddies. So in my mind I saw Rakdos stepping out of a 1930s car in a pin striped suit holding a tommy gun all day long.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Oct 2, 2012 17:11:21 GMT -6
What?! No way! (Funny thing is, he knows he's like that; doesn't seem to care.)
Zoot Suit Riot, lol.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Oct 9, 2012 18:04:23 GMT -6
This may or may not be the default Magic thread. Either way, howzabout something like this for an FNM (Dead Turkey People are working crazy overtime, no Friday game for awhile, looks like): Critters4x Guttersnipe 4x Goblin Electromancer 3x Augur of Bolas (have 4, maybe add the 4th?) 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner Card Draw4x Think Twice (need 1) 4x Desperate Ravings Burn3x Searing Spear 3x Flames of the Firebrand (have 3, need a 4th?) 2x Electrickery (have 4, 2 in board) Counters 3x Dissipate 3x Rewind 2x Izzet Charm (only have 2 of these, maybe need the other 2?) Land24x Land (have 1 Steam Vents and 1 Sulfur Falls, any more would be great, not sure if I wanna run cipt fetches for tempo reasons...) That's 24 instants/sorcs to abuse with Guttersnipe/Electromancer/Talrand. Some of them have flashback . Or we could get rid of the counters and go more burn/non-counter control: 3x Pillar of Flame (have 1) 3x Cyclonic Rift (Good God does this card look awesome!!) (have 1, want many!) 2x Talrand's Invocation (not so much control, but makes critters) (have 2) (not sure I like em, anyway) And if I got rid of the counters, I could probably cut a land or two to find room for something else (Street Spasm? Devil's Play?). Oh, and since I don't own any Cyclonic Rifts, I could replace them with Blustersquall (have 2) or Sleep (have at least 3) or something. Also, I might have a Runechanter's Pike or two (nope), which might or might not be good in here (very few critters to carry it) (think not very good). What do you think Magic ppls? Is there a good (budget) deck here? Could this be a deck at all? EDIT: Updated with what I have of what I'm considering. I also found a Past In Flames, and my discussion with skaro earlier convinced me that it isn't a "crappy Yawg's Will" like I thought (not as good as Yawg's Will, obviously, but I think it might be good for this deck). I'd like to find room for it. (Now I'm not so sure, maybe in the side for against mill decks? Is that a deck?) I own 3 or 4 Annihilating Fire which could sub in for some of the burn I'm missing (Pillar of Flame, Flames of Firebrand), but not near as good (those two seem really good against the Zombie Menace). Mizzium Mortars would be nice for burn/mass removal (almost as good as Cyclonic Rift), but I own none. Street Spasm could play that role, though. And I have no idea for sideboard (the other 2x Electrickery, 3x Traitorous Instinct, that's all I got so far). Making Magic decks is hard! EDIT 2: Updated with more stuff I found/picked up. I'm really close to how I want the deck to look given my budget/available cards. Here's what I think it's gonna look like "officially" (until I change my mind 3 or 4 more times): The "Engine"4x Guttersnipe 4x Goblin Electromancer 3x Augur of Bolas 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner 4x Desperate Ravings 4x Think Twice The Burn4x Searing Spear 3x Flames of the Firebrand 1x Cyclonic Rift 2x Electrickery The Counters3x Dissipate 3x Syncopate 2x Izzet Guildcharm The Land1x Steam Vents 1x Sulfur Falls 3x Izzet Guildgate 2x Evolving Wilds 8x Mountain 8x Islands The Sideboard1x Augur of Bolas 2x Electrickery 4x Annihilating Fire 3x Traitorous Instinct 2x Street Spasm 2x Essence Scatter 1x Past In Flames Still need 1x Think Twice, and wouldn't mind 3x Pillar of Flame. Also, Mizzium Mortars and Cyclonic Rift would be awesome for this deck. Well, I guess we'll see what it does tomorrow.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Oct 13, 2012 18:42:29 GMT -6
Long day, but I know my fans demand results. And I have them!
This is what the deck looked like after skaro let me borrow some dual lands and a couple Cyclonic Rift:
The Engine 4x Guttersnipe 4x Goblin Electromancer 3x Augur of Bolas 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner 4x Think Twice 4x Desperate Ravings
The Burn 4x Searing Spear 3x Flames of the Firebrand 3x Cyclonic Rift
The Counters 3x Dissipate 3x Syncopate 2x Izzet Charm
The Land 4x Sulfur Falls 4x Steam Vents 8x Mountain 7x Island
The Sideboard 3x Traitorous Instinct 2x Essence Scatter 2x Street Spasm 4x Annihilating Fire 3x Electrickery 1x Augur of Bolas
In case it isn’t clear what the deck is supposed to do, Guttersnipe burns my opponent for 2 every time I cast an instant or sorcery. Goblin Electromancer makes those all cheaper. Think Twice and Desperate Ravings not only draw me cards, but they have flashback so I can do it again. Augur digs 3 deep into my deck to find more gas, and Talrand is just icing on the cake, making fliers whenever I cast instants or sorceries. The burn is there to try to keep critters under control, or to melt the bad guy’s face (hopefully with a Guttersnipe or two in play), and the counters are to keep everything else under control.
I was initially torn between whether or not to run counters; I knew I wouldn’t be able to pack the deck full of ‘em like in the good old days, and the newer counters pretty much suck balls. In the end I decided to kick it quasi-old school, and roll with the counters. Magic is way more interesting when I can counter shit.
As is typical of Slackers tournaments (at least typical in my limited experience), we started like an hour late. This fact irritated me, even more so when I found out that I had a bye for the first round. I think I said something to the effect of “well that sucks, now I get to sit around for another hour.” Come to find out, it was partly my fault since I signed in with the name that everybody knows me by, and not my real name, which is how the DCI knows me. In my defense, though, the dude running the tournament never bothered to find out who was who (Josh, the regular guy, never remembers who I am, but at least he gets to the bottom of shit – we had a sub tonight).
Round 1 – Jarad – RB Jarad was an inexperienced player (from what I understand, there were a lot of new faces there tonight, including me; total of 22 people). He had really cool sleeves, though, a demon skull on shiny red background. It wouldn’t help him.
Game 1 – He plays out a bunch of little dudes which I manage to keep under control. At one point he attempted to play Auger Spree on his 1/1 dude. I pointed out that this act would, in fact, kill said dude. He took it back. I then played a Guttersnipe, correctly assuming that I would never see that Auger Spree again. Although this game was all me, it took forever to kill him. I drew nothing but land! I started holding onto them to discard to Desperate Ravings. And Jarad, wouldn’t you know it, is very good at picking the non-land card from my hand. I finally managed to kill him, 2 at a time from a Guttersnipe. I drew a total of 18 land that game.
Game 2 – This game we both mulliganed, me to 6, he to 5. I got stuck on 2 land for quite some time, but through the judicious use of counters and burn, I once again plinked away 2 at a time to finally finish him off.
1-0
Well, the deck had survived its initial trial by fire. Unfortunately, it was against somebody who wasn’t very good. Hopefully, it will continue to do so.
Round 2 – Dwayne – GW tokens Dwayne was fucking annoying. Yeah, I said it! He kept bragging about how he’d built his deck 10 minutes before the tournament, he was showing it off outside while we were smoking, he kept giggling like an idiot every time he played a card, kept saying shit like, “wow, you’re really going to hate this!” Just annoying. Now, I try to be patient with people, I try not to let the idiosyncrasies of others bother me (honestly, I’ve gotten much better!), but I don’t know what it was, tonight. I got irritated at having to wait around for the tournament to start and was vocal about it. And then I let Dwayne get under my skin. I dunno what my problem is, lately.
Game 1 – I had a slow start this game, and his lifegain coupled with some green 2/1 critter with haste that comes back from the dead bigger (cannot for the life of me remember its damn name!) was too much for me to overcome.
Game 2 – I got stuck on 3 land for a while, but kept him in check. I believe it was this game that he activated his land that makes an 8/8 thing. I bounced the token, he tried to put the land back into his hand (he was using it as the token), and I had to explain that the land was in the ‘yard and that his token evaporated upon hitting his hand (how do these kids not know this shit?). I then proceeded to kill his GW guildmage, and, with a pair of Guttersnipes to seal the deal, applied my remaining burn to his face.
Game 3 – I had to mulligan to 5 (wtf is up with this deck?!), and honestly it wasn’t much of a game. I proceeded to draw lots of land, Think Twices and Desperate Ravings, and more land. I put up a fight, but when they called time and told us we had 5 more turns, I just extended the hand and said “you got it.” At least it drew some laughs.
1-1
Y’know, if I lose I lose. But I really hate to lose to an annoying bastard. It’s almost as bad as losing to somebody who I catch trying to cheat against me. But, I am beginning to think the deck maybe isn’t quite as awesome as I had initially hoped. I’m also beginning to think that it might not be the worst thing in the world to scrub out and go home. It had already been a long day, and I was pretty tired. I would stick out 2 more rounds though; the deck’s fun when it works, and still kinda fun even if it doesn’t.
Round 3 – CJ – UG CJ had a Mohawk, something that I always wanted to do at that age, but never had the balls (my Dad would have, quite literally, killed me). Evidently he was there with his little brother. At least, we sat next to a kid and a rather attractive young lady who weren’t in the tournament but were playing each other. And the kid kept giving him a hard time, like little brothers do. At one point, CJ started talking in a British accent, which got me doing the same thing. We both laughed when he tried to get serious but couldn’t shake the accent. I said something to the effect that it’s hard to stop once you start; I know, cause it is hard.
Game 1 – CJ plays a Delver first turn, and I think, great, here we go. But, from what I understand, Delver isn’t as nasty as it was just a couple short weeks ago. As the game goes on, he never reveals any cards, and I begin to wonder if he knows how to play his deck. He also plays a 1/1 unblockable hexproof guy (Good Lord, I cannot remember card names to save my life! Invisible Stalker, maybe?), and again, I worry a bit. I think I took one from the untouchable, but had managed to play out my boys – multiples of Electromancers, an Augur or two, and Talrand. He kept his untouchable back to block. Lacking a Guttersnipe, I still decided to try to overwhelm him with spells; after all, with Talrand, each one makes a 2/2 drake. He blocked a dude with his untouchable, killing it, and on his turn played Wolfir Silverheart. This thing has soulbond that makes dudes huge (+4/+4 to him and dude he’s bound with), but he didn’t bond with his Delver. He played a 3/1 unblockable thing and bound that to Wolfir. Wolfir attacked and I chumped him with my lone drake. My turn, I get a Guttersnipe, make a couple more dudes, and on his turn he swings for 7 with the unblockable; wait, he says, make that 12 (pump spell, ouchie!). No matter; his eot, I draw some cards for some Guttersnipe burn, and on my turn I play another Guttersnipe, flash back my draw, and apply more burn to the face.
Game 2 – We both mulled to 6, and he got off to a slow start. Well, he played multiple Wall of Fogs, Delvers, and untouchables. He plinked away with his untouchables, and I got my shit going with some Electromancers and a couple Guttersnipes. I had the Cyclonic Rift in hand, I had the mana, I had to cast it. That sealed the deal as he was unable to recover. I think I was spell-light this game, and the goblin boys actually swung a few times to finish him off. Well, burn to the face finally finishes him off, but they got a couple punches in.
2-1
Okay, feeling a little better, let’s see what happens next.
Round 4 – Andy – RGB vampires? I’m not sure if this deck has a name or not, but Andy was packing plenty of money cards. All the dual lands, and lots of rares and mythics. He seemed a decent fellow, though, and I’d hate to kill him. Well, not really…
Game 1 – I honestly don’t remember what happened this game, but my notes indicate that I took away his life in chunks and he dealt not a single point of damage to me. It’s quite probable that he got mana screwed.
Game 2 – Different story this game. I got mana flooded (why deck, why?!). I did manage to get him down to 18, but he hit me for tons and more tons. He had me back on my heels the whole game, struggling to find any sort of answer.
Game 3 – This one was a little more interesting. I remember nuking his Deathrite Shaman early (he told me it was awesome, I told him I had heard that and that I didn’t want to see just how awesome). I applied the judicious use of blocks from my little dudes, and suffered some card disadvantage trying to clean up his side of the board, but my other card draw kept me in it. He played a land that lets you name a critter and if you spend its mana on that critter, it can’t be countered. He named vampires. He played another, naming elves. He tried to play a plant wall, and I countered that sumbitch! He then played a third one of those lands, naming plants. All he managed to get out was a couple Blood Artist, though, and later another dude. I applied some liberal amount of attacking, and with plenty of card draw I got him down low. Endgame, I cast Searing Spear at his face, which, with my pair of Guttersnipes, would kill him, but he kills his own dude, gaining a couple life from his pair of Blood Artists putting him at 1. I say okay, untap, and look at the Dissipate in my hand. And remember the mana I had, which was enough to cast it. Damn it! No matter, I draw a Think Twice and finish him off. I had 4 land in play.
3-1
Well, the deck has faced a couple noobs and beaten them, and a couple experienced people and beaten one of them. I’m 3-1 with a chance to make the Top 8. Earlier in the night, I had talked briefly with Anthony, who is also playing a Guttersnipe deck. His deck is different than mine, in that he wins by token swarm with Talrand, Krenko, and Teleportal. I just want to counter shit and melt your face. He said it would be interesting if we ended up playing each other.
Top 8 – Anthony – UR Guttersnipe Well, whodathunkit?!
Game 1 – This was what may eventually come to be known as the Great Guttersnipe War (but probably not). He played one first, and I killed it. I answered his with my own, and he killed it. He played a second, and I countered it. I played my second, and it met a grisly fate. And then he played his third, the prick! I tried to burn it, but he countered my Spear, and by that time it was over. This all happened as soon as we each had three mana, mind you.
Game 2 – I was pretty mana light this game, at least early on. I made it to 4 lands in play, 8 cards in hand, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna discard when I can play something, counters or no counters! Neither of us wanted to be the first to play a spell, both fearing the counters (I had several in hand, iirc), but I didn’t want to discard, either. So I asked Anthony if he had burn in his hand. He said yes. I asked if he had any counters. Yes, again. I said fuck it and played Talrand. No counter, no burn. He’s lying! And then on his turn he plays his own Talrand; both die. But he had to tap out to do it, so I ran out a Guttersnipe, which wasn’t answered on his turn. It went the distance.
Game 3 – My deck came out beautifully, and he got stuck on two land. He conceded with 14 life left. We shook hands, but he was definitely pissed. He said he hated to lose like that, I told him I hated to win like that.
4-1
Okay, this is stupid. My “budget” deck (would be without skaro’s duallies helping out) is in the Top 4? And it seems to be performing rather well. Now, having said that, I must make the observation that my sideboard sucks; of the 15, I only used 5 cards from it the whole night. This is pretty typical of my sideboards. If I ever play this deck again, I will have to seriously rework the sideboard. But whatever, I’m Top 4, bitches!
Top 4 – Chase – GW fat Hmm, I got beat by the other GW deck I played tonight…
Game 1 – Not much to tell. He got stuck on 2 Plains. I annihilated him.
Game 2 – This game was a different story. Since I hadn’t seen his deck, I decided not to sideboard (I thought I knew what I wanted to bring in, but didn’t do it). He crushed me with big critters as I struggled to find some kind of answer. At least I dealt 2 points of damage to him.
Game 3 – This game, I bring in both Essence Scatter and all 3 Traitorous Instinct. He wants to play fat, Imma stop it or steal it. So I kill some of his dudes, deal some damage to him. He manages to get a Sigarda to stick; I think I had a Syncopate, but he had enough mana to pay it. In fact, I think I cast the Syncopate just to see, and, obviously, he paid it. No prob, I think, I got 2 Traitorous Instinct in hand, I kill him in 2 turns (he was at 10). I look at Sigarda, just to see what cool shit I can do while I control her, and that’s when I see the word “Hexproof.” NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I can’t touch her, but he does have that land that can become an 8/8 token dude. I think, okay, man, just make it a dude, make it a dude! Naturally, he doesn’t, and, naturally, I draw nothing but nothing for the next 4 turns. Sigarda kills me handily.
4-2
So I ended up finishing 4th out of 22, not too bad for a scrub who decided to “get back into Magic after several years” (we’ll see if that sticks). For loot, I won 3 packs of Return to Ravnica. I pulled a Guttersnipe, which promptly went into skaro’s hands. Swag that stayed in my hands – Mana Bloom (meh), Angel of Serenity (mythic!), and Hallowed Fountain (shock land, W000000000T!!! \m/ \m/ ).
So Top 4. Not too bad for the old fat man with a deck he’d never played before. Well, he’d kind of played it before at the RtR pre-release. But still. skaro called my performance a “triumphant return.” I don’t know if I’d go that far. But I still feel pretty awesome.
Okay, all that shit out of the way, the deck has some weaknesses. It seems to fold to fat. Understandable since I rely on instant speed damage to kill things. Or counters, and, like I said before, these new age counters suck. But if I don’t stop the fatties, the fatties gonna kill me. How to fight this? I’d hate to maindeck Traitorous Instinct. Maybe Clone. Clone got reprinted (I know, right?). But Clone is neither instant nor sorcery. This will require some thought. I do think I need to go up to 4x Izzet Charm, despite that fact that I sided them out when I sideboarded. Desperate Ravings also got sided out. Maybe replace the Ravings with Charms, and then add a couple Clones? I dunno, but I think this deck has potential to be cooler than it is. skaro suggested Cackling Counterpart, which is an instant and costs less than Clone, but it can only copy my own dudes. Maybe I should add a couple dragons or something to help fight the fat. Not sure. It will require thought.
Also, it seems that if I’m to attend more FNMs I’ll have to put together a trade binder of some sort. I’ve never been a fan of trading, since I’m no good at it, and it’s a pain to dig through all my cards and decide which ones I’m willing to part with and which I’m not. But I got asked like a dozen times if I had anything to trade and what I’m looking for. So we’ll see if that happens or not.
Also, I think the deck might need a name. I don’t want to call it something generic like “Izzet Control” or “the Guttersnipe Deck.” Coming up with a good name will be almost as important as the tweaks the deck needs. At least as important.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Oct 27, 2012 0:10:04 GMT -6
Unfortunately, no Guttersniping for FNM. They didn't run Standard tonight, electing instead to go with Two-Headed Giant Return to Ravnica Sealed Deck (I know, right?). I personally hadn't played 2HG in forever, and never with sealed. And I'm rusty. skaro pointed out that the two of us bring 36 or so years experience to the table. I said, yes, let them squirm before our might. So, as Dimmu Burger, we opened our 8 packs (build 2 decks out of 8 packs). I'm not going to list each card, or even decklists, sorry, but I will point out some highlights. The first thing that jumped out at me was 2 shocklands (GW and BG) and a Deathrite Shaman. I also saw a whole bunch of mill cards in blue ( Doorkeeper, 2x Chronic Flooding, Psychic Spiral, and a couple green walls to go with the Doorkeeper). I knew I wanted UG, and skaro insisted that one of us had to play the Shaman (one of his powers is EACH opponent loses 2 life). skaro had a Havoc Festival, very little burn, and some removal, so he was going BR. It fell to me to run the BUG mill deck. Round 1 - Underdogs I'm sorry, I don't remember their decks exactly, so sue me. This game started off pretty leisurely, they dealt some damage to us, but we didn't panic. I had a couple walls, I think, and skaro had a flying guy with lifelink, and another guy with swampwalk (one of the 'Dogs was playing black). At one point they killed my Sluiceway Scorpion. I scavenged it (to put 2 +1/+1 tokens on a critter), and I wanted the tokens on the swampwalker; skaro wanted em on the flier with lifelink. I told him it was his call, and it turned out to be a good one. skaro played his Desecration Demon at one point, and the 'Dogs were forced to deal with it by saccing critters to it (and sometimes bouncing it). I had a Chronic Flooding on one of the UW guy's 2 Islands, and he milled quite a bit. After taking a bit of a beating at first, we stabilized and pretty much took over the game. skaro delivered the killing blow by playing Havoc Festival with them at 14 and an Annihilating Fire in hand. 1-0 In case you didn't catch it, Havoc Festival causes each player to lose half their life at the beginning of each player's upkeep. There is only one upkeep per side in 2HG, but there are two players per side and they both lose the life. So Havoc Festival actually cuts their life to 1/4 instead of just 1/2. From 14 to 7 to 3, and burn to the face. Round 2 - Fat Squad - UR and RGB So the Burger won its first match in pretty convincing fashion. Personally, I was confident that this trend would continue. I seemed to have forgotten that one occurrence of anything does not constitute a "trend." On UR's second turn he played a Goblin Electromancer. On his third turn he played a goddam Guttersnipe. CHEATIN!! skaro attempted to Auger Spree the 'Snipe, but RGB Giant Growthed it. GAH! I managed a steady amount of milling on RGB, but it seemed to help him as he scavenged a thing to make one of UR's beaters big enough to deal serious damage a couple times. skaro got the demon out again, but it was dealt with easily. I cast an overloaded Cyclonic Rift to try to bring some sanity back to things, but by this time we were damn near dead. RGB got out a Lotleth Troll which I answered with a Trestle Troll, and UR cast a Pursuit of Flight on his buddy's troll. I'd been sitting with 2x Aerial Predation in my hand since the beginning of the damn game (part of the reason I kept the hand) with nothing to shoot them at. Until now. I could see what was going to happen, in fact I was counting on it. RGB had one swamp untapped to regen his Lol Troll, and I knew UR would tap a blue to give the thing flying. But first, skaro decided to try to kill it with, I believe, Annihilating Fire. Naturally, RGB chucked a critter to keep his Troll alive. Now here comes the troll through the skies (and another critter that I wasn't worried about). I Predation the Lol Troll, RGB regens it, I hit it with Predation #2, killing it and gaining 4 life in the process. (And it wasn't card disadvantage, either: my 2 spells is a net gain over the troll, the enchantment, and whatever critter RGB chucked!) I block the other thing with the Trestle Troll, and the Burger is still alive! Alive, but not winning. We're at 11, they're at 24, and RGB has plenty of cards in his hand, some of which are surely gas. And then I draw Psychic Spiral. I windmill slam the Spiral, shuffle 13 cards back in, and mill the remaining 10 in RGB's deck. 2-0 That was pretty cool. The Burger managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat (how long has been since you've heard that particular cliche; I know I much more often hear the "clever" version "defeat from the jaws of victory." Oh, shut up, you.). One more win and we're 3-0 and guaranteed a spot in the Top 4. Round 3 - Our Couches Pull Out But We Don't I'm not even going to try to drag it out. We got completely and utterly dominated this game. The Burger wasn't performing as it had in its previous 2 games (well, I suppose we were performing up to par considering Round 2...). I kept a 5 land hand with Deathrite Shaman and Doorkeeper (and no Islands), but played my Shaman on my first turn. One of the Couches then trumped mine with his - his was shiny. And then they wisely killed mine. No worries, I thought, skaro has an Auger Spree to take of the shiny one. He got to 3 mana and I said something to the effect of "you got to." He asked, "which one, the big guy?" I'm like, "yeah..." So he Auger Sprees a 3/1 dork with vigilance. I honestly didn't know how to react, so I didn't. (What I should have done was exclaim, "NO! Hit the Shaman!") It went down hill from there. The shiny Shaman took away chunks, but we valiantly fought on. Or well, scrambled to stay alive. I thought I saw salvation in the form of skaro's Havoc Festival, but math is hard and I didn't do it right. We were at 7, they were at 29. I'm like, "you gotta play that" pointing at the Festival. skaro hesitates and then does so. They're at 29 and then suddenly at 7. Oh yeah, we got this. They swing for the win, I Fog. Oh yeah! We untap, and I start doing the math correctly this time, only then remembering that goddam Deathrite Shaman that we never killed. FUUUUUUUUUUU--!!! skaro later explained (after we died) that he assumed I had mana open to cast my Cyclonic Rift and bounce the Festival at their eot. In actuality, I didn't even think about it (and didn't have the mana open, either). I had completely ignored and/or forgotten about shiny Shaman when I did the math. I assumed that they would attack, I would fog, on our turn we go to 1, I Blustersquall their dudes, on their turn they go to 1 and I attack with my dude for the kill. Math is hard, especially when your Magic expert is "really tired" (his words) and I'm so rusty. 2-1 I don't know if we would have made Top 4 or not, as they decided to just quit after 3 rounds. (I didn't care since there was no prize support; the store didn't make any money on this tournament, so I won't complain.) And I'm not sure where Dimmu Burger placed, but I'd like to think Top 4. So I'm going to! All in all, it was a pretty fun tournament. Playing 2HG with skaro is just plain fun; I was very comfortable the whole night, so much so that I didn't stop making lame jokes. skaro and I agreed that if we do this a few more times, enough to where we get to knowing what we're doing, we could actually kick some serious butt (and trust me, there are plenty of "serious butts" at this place - Fat Squad wasn't just a clever team name...). Regarding my deck choice, well, it was interesting. I saw the mill cards, and I got excited about trying a mill deck in limited. And it worked okay. There were control elements in it to keep us alive long enough to eat a library, and it actually worked once. skaro's deck was, as is typical, wonky enough to initially escape me as to what it actually wanted to do. And that might be why we didn't win that last game. I think we didn't want to step on each others' toes. I know there were a few plays he made (or rather, didn't make) where I was thinking, "dude, why don't you do this brute force thing like I would?" And I guarantee there were plays I made where he was thinking, "slow down, I say, slow down, son!" Anyway, loot. I think my $15 was well spent. skaro and I ended up drafting the packs over a tasty burger (heh) afterwards. I snagged that Deathrite Shaman, an Overgrown Tomb, a Grove of the Guardian, and Cyclonic Rift. skaro got the GW shockland, the Havoc Festival, and a couple other cards I can't remember (I know I got the better end of that deal). I also ended up with a promo Planechase plane. And that's that. Hopefully Dimmu Burger will have a chance to do battle once again. But if not, we still got to mill somebody out in sealed! EDIT: When I announced our team name (Dimmu Burger; skaro commanded that I come up with a name...), the dude at the counter at the shop asked me if I knew where it came from. I was like, "duh, yeah." And it's only now that I'm thinking, why the hell would I name our team Dimmu Burger if I didn't know where it came from? For those of you not in the know, Dimmu Borgir is a well-known death metal band, but more importantly, Dimmu Burger is the fast food joint that Nathan Explosion worked at after the rest of Dethklok was killed by crows. Seems pretty obvious to me, but I guess some people just want to think that... Fuck, I don't know....
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skaro
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Post by skaro on Nov 1, 2012 14:59:00 GMT -6
I have been putting this off for a while, not feeling it. Any way I think we decided on Havoc Festival and for good reason, the ability to cut their life total by three quarters (or more if not at a total divisible by four) seems good. If any one else reads this, let me explain. Havoc Festival is an Enchantment that says - (Players can't gain life. At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player loses half his or her life, rounded up.) So in a two headed giant match it would hit both players, halving there combined life total for the first player and then halving it again for the other. In other words if they are at 30 they go to 15 and then 7 during there upkeep. Seems good for a cmc of 6. So the pros are massive damage output and its an enchantment (shouldn’t have much hate for it). The cons are it costs 6 mana. We have to live long enough to get it into play or mana excel into it. The first way I think would be best accomplished with a blue/white deck with Detention Sphere, Supreme Verdict, Oblivion Ring and lots of removal in black/red deck like mutilate, murder and bolt like effects. The second way would require a splash of green in the B/R deck. What ever way we go with this the other deck has to have blue for the Cyclonic Rift to bounce the Havoc Festival during their EOT (you have to wait until their EOT so they think we will get hit by it as well, gives them more of a chance to make mistakes). I picked up two more Havoc Festival for a dollar each, still need one more. Do you have one? If you want to get a couple lists up to get started, go ahead. If not I’ll get some up this weekend or the first of next week.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Nov 1, 2012 18:47:33 GMT -6
It's the start of November (NaNoWriMo), and I've been writing for a couple hours so my brain isn't up to coming up with decklists. I'll try this weekend, unless you beat me to it. If we're going UW, I don't have any/many of the cards you're thinking (I do have 4x Rift, though...).
I thought I had a Havoc Festival, but I was wrong (2x Slaughter Games, that was throwing me off).
Now, I have a concern. Or what might be a concern. Are we going to rely on the BR Havoc Festival deck to provide all the damage? If the UW has nothing but permission and no damage, that's going to put a lot of pressure on the BR. I understand that it will have burn, but will we have reliable finishers? If my math is right (and it might not be), we would get them to 7 with the first application of Festival, bounce it, play it again and get them to 1. It would really suck to not be able to deliver that last point of damage! Green splash for Deathrite Shaman might be the way to go here if the UW is all permission and no business.
Just some thoughts.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Nov 10, 2012 0:08:00 GMT -6
Dimmu Burger Part Two – Return of the Burger
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any notes so this will probably suck. I’m going to try to work from memory, and even when I wasn’t old my memory kinda sucked. And age was a recurring theme tonight with skaro and I both lamenting our advancing years.
We didn’t do enough prep for this tournament, and we knew it. We even talked about it. About how many years ago we would have been preparing the moment it was announced. We did talk about it a little, but that was the extent of our preparation. I ended up running the Guttersnipe deck, minus the Epic Experiment and an Izzet Charm for 2x Cyclonic Rift in their place (all the better to bounce Havoc Festival). skaro played a BRG deck featuring 4x Havoc Festival, 4x Birds of Lavamancer, 4x Thragtusk, some ramp and a bunch of removal. He told me he threw it together this afternoon, and I altered my deck right before the tournament.
Round 1 – Can’t remember names, having trouble remembering decks, think they were Ten Inches of Fury The Burger started out slow, having to deal with early pressure from the FRites deck (think that’s what the cool kids call it). I was firmly in the role of support this game, burning a couple dudes and countering a couple spells until skaro dropped the Festival. I Rifted it at their eot and we killed em easily after that. It felt like we were struggling the whole game trying to keep up with their fast fat critters and decks full of rares. And then we just kind of won.
It was during this game that we found out we were cheating; we had 6x Evolving Wilds between us. Oops! Our opponents were really cool about it, though; they didn’t turn us in, and after the game we traded out my 2x Wilds for a couple Steam Vents skaro let me borrow. I wish I could remember their names, but they’re actually both kind of annoying to just hang out with. And it seemed like they wanted to hang out all night…
1-0
Round 2 – BUR and GW, and these guys might have actually been Ten Inches of Fury (and why ten? Why not go to eleven?) The BUR guy sitting across from me tried to play a Dissipate early on, and I luckily noticed that he didn’t have 2 blue mana. And then I knew he had a Dissipate in hand! Previous to this, his partner had mulliganed down to 4 cards I think and never played more than 2 lands all game. Our decks performed admirably, and we Festivaled em to death.
These guys were really cool about their bad luck, and all four of us were cracking jokes all game. Something I’ve noticed about 2 headed giant the past couple times I’ve played, everybody seems to have more fun than one on one. Or at least they act like it. I know I enjoy it more when I have a partner to lose with.
2-0
Round 3 – UW and R, Later Gator These guys showed up late, and were 1-0. How we got paired with em, well, I can’t complain. My deck exploded, getting what we used to call the God Draw. skaro, naturally, got stuck on two lands for the whole game. His Deathrite Shaman pwned, though. Meanwhile, my deck pooped out Electromancer, Guttersnipe, Talrand, some counters and some burn. I’m sure their decks were cool, but they couldn’t handle such a tasty Burger.
3-0
Well, this is a pleasant surprise. The two old men kicking ass with a couple janky homebrew decks (although I sort of learned that I’m not the only one to have the Guttersnipe idea; one of the Later Gator guys said he really liked “the Izzet deck” and said he’d read about it online. I’ve also read about it online, but I came up with the idea on my own at the RtR prerelease, and I’m kind of proud of it, even if it isn’t very good.).
Josh came out while we were smoking and informed us that we and his team were the only undefeateds. He offered to ID into the Top 4. While Dimmu Burger would never run from a fight, skaro and I agreed that we wanted loot.
Round 4 – Josh’s team We ID’d. I just told you that!
3-0-1
Top 4 – Scott and his partner, GW and BR During this game, skaro I think played 3 Birds of Lavamancer (all of which died quickly), and all 4 of his Farseek. He drew some removal, but my small ball action couldn’t keep up with fast BR and the fat on the other side. Both of us were praying to see a Mutilate come out of his deck, but they were shy or intimidated or something. I did manage to Cyclonic Rift the board once, but that was just a minor blip for the bad guys. We kept the BR deck under control for the most part, but Scott’s fat and lifegain nonsense was too much for us. At one point, skaro and I decided (well, I decided) that we wouldn’t die until they were at 100 life. They said that their goal was to kill us before they hit 60. Neither of us accomplished their goal; we died with them at 56 or so.
So the Burger made Top 4 of ten teams, which is okay, but not what skaro and I had grown accustomed to in the past. We had some really good games, but then our decks kind of just punked out on us when it really mattered (which is a silly thing to say, really; I mean, if they’d punked out earlier, we prolly wouldn’t have made Top 4…).
We did get some loot, though: one pack of RtR apiece. Which is kind of lame for Top 4, but the entry was $4 each, and at least we got something. skaro opened a Trostani (his fifth, w00t, trade bait!), and I opened a Rakdos’s Return (my second, w00t, trade bait but I’ll keep one for Sol’kanar at least). Not too bad a showing when both our packs contain a mythic.
The more I play this deck, the more I notice the inability to deal with fat creatures. I really think that Clone needs to go in main. Although, if I do that I would probably change the deck around completely. I like UR, and I like Guttersnipe, but maybe the deck just can’t keep up with the power level of Standard. Maybe I’m trying to be too “cute” with it. I mentioned small ball once in this report (and in the previous Guttersnipe report, too, iirc), and maybe small ball can’t win a World Series in this era. I would like some power hitting. Maybe I should rebuild the deck to be more “traditional” Counter Burn.
Or possibly a transformational sideboard? I’ve never been good at sideboarding, so maybe I should just ignore that aspect entirely. That really doesn’t have much to do with 2 headed giant, of course, since only one game is played for each match. But, if I were to play the deck in regular Standard again, it’s something to think about.
Eh, I won’t bore you with my musings. At least not about this deck.
I overheard something about an EDH league at the shop with Commander’s Arsenal as the prize at the end of the league. Unfortunately, I did not ask about the league, and actually ignored the announcement when it was made since I felt it had nothing to do with me. Now, of course, I’m thinking about participating. But what deck would I play? I have several good ones (at least I think they’re good…):
• KARADOR – my favorite probably, but I know two other people (skaro and Scott) who play him. And he’s pretty easy to hate out, so maybe I could exploit that… • Visara – kill now, kill often. The one time I played this deck I brutalized my opponents (skaro and RMS), and it wasn’t even challenging. Was that a fluke? • The Bouncy Bounce – only played it twice, and it was ridiculous. Since I don’t care if I piss off my opponents with loot on the line, maybe I could beef this up a little more and just roll. • Sol’kanar – I haven’t played it much, but it’s just fun. Big and beefy with enough control to keep me happy, but maybe with not enough oomph for competitive play.
And that “competitive play” thing is what kinda gets me. EDH is not supposed to be about organized competition. And I really don’t want to play against degenerate combo decks in this format. And degenerate combo decks would be easy to build (for somebody like skaro, anyway, me not so much). I would need to examine the league rules and guidelines before I commit, but I must say I’m intrigued. Eh, I prolly won’t do it, but I am interested.
Okay, I’m done rambling.
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skaro
Junior Member
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Post by skaro on Nov 10, 2012 12:04:40 GMT -6
That was a fun tournament but the highlights for me don't involve Magic or at least not its game play.
At one point Ixos and I were out side with a small group of people smoking and the topic of conversation was smoking. This guy I had never seen before informs us that he has smoked since he was elven years old, for fourteen years now. Five minutes later the conversation changed to age and the guy asked us to guess how old he was. Having done the math unspoken in our heads five minutes earlier, Ixos and I simultaneously say twenty-five. This guy and some of the others in the group kind of looked amazed until we explained that all the relevant information had been given previously. I felt like Watson to Ixos's Sherlock and even though the riddle wasn't terribly difficult, the look on their faces was priceless.
The second highlight happened when I attempted to get a piece of dirt off of one of my cards. I was informed by my opponent that it was not dirt but a printing flaw and that all Thragtusk had the mark on them. After the game we looked and only one of my four had the mark. A quick count of the store revealed 5 of 14 had the mark and one foil did not. I now need to find out if a foil version exists with the mark before i start looking at foreign copies. And the fact that I am more concerned with card variations then with strategy is not lost on me.
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Post by redshirt on Nov 10, 2012 18:52:49 GMT -6
Nice tourney report Ixos. Had a hard time reading it as my eyes kept drifting too the left on me, not sure why. Where you guys playing all this Magic at? Jeff?
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Nov 11, 2012 2:51:54 GMT -6
Slackers in Jeff City is where we've been playing. It's the only place I could play FNM after work, at least if I want to show up on time. And I'm not going to bad mouth them right now, but they wouldn't be my first choice of venues...
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rmsgamer
Full Member
"WHAT ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR?"
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Post by rmsgamer on Nov 11, 2012 13:18:43 GMT -6
You forgot to mention your 'sentence structure' attempts. Scott told me about the facebook thing that had the 20 word sentence that started with a one letter word and ended with a twenty letter word and how youse guys were attempting the same. Classic.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Nov 12, 2012 8:45:28 GMT -6
I only got up to five words.
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skaro
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by skaro on Nov 27, 2012 13:11:57 GMT -6
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Nov 27, 2012 18:21:22 GMT -6
That is an impressive prize list.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Dec 1, 2012 23:43:00 GMT -6
There was a charity Magic tournament at Mageling’s in Columbia today, and skaro and I went. I went with Small Ball (the Guttersnipe deck listed more or less above), and skaro ran with a UWG thing with Restoration Angels and Thragtusks. His deck looked very similar to another deck I’d seen online that looked pretty cool (UW Flash), except his had green in it. I thought his deck looked good, but he didn’t seem very confident in it. He may have been more confident had he been running Augur of Bolas instead of Azorius Keyrune, but I digress. We got there and my niece was there, too. Neat! She regularly beats me when we play, but we’d never played against each other at a tournament before. It would have been cool if we got the chance today, but it wasn’t to happen (sorry, I set that up like I was foreshadowing). She trash talked me, of course, before the tournament. Now, as I’ve repeatedly mentioned, I’ve been “away from Magic for a long time.” We actually had to fill out deck reg sheets, which I hadn’t done in forever. Luckily, I did that correctly. I did not fill out my first match slip correctly, though (the head judge called me out, too, how embarrassing). Round 1 – CJ, UWG Game 1 – One of his first lands is Cavern of Souls (name a critter type, and critters of that type you cast with mana from this land can’t be countered) naming Beast. Great, I think, I know what’s coming. Shortly thereafter, he plays another one naming Angel. Meanwhile, I proceed to draw lots of counters. After all this time, my deck still hasn’t figured out how to deal with Thragtusk. I get him down to 29 before I die. No prob, I have a solution in the form of Ghost Quarter in my ‘board so I can strip his dang Cavern of Souls. I go to sideboard, and realize that I never did change it how I had intended. No Ghost Quarter. FFFUUUU— Game 2 – He mulls down to 5, and I think okay, I can get him this time! This game I start strong with an Electromancer and a Snipe, but have very little gas to make them go. I attempt to beat down with them, but he O Rings each and begins to stabilize. I get him down to 8 before he starts gaining life. He goes up to 23, and it’s my turn to stabilize with a Cyclonic Rift and/or Mizzium Mortar. But by this time he’s found some blue mana, and starts countering my shit. No fair! My little guys aren’t getting it done, so I proceed to point every bit of my burn at his face. I get him down to 7, but it isn’t enough, and he’s back up to 19 before he kills me. Would have been nice to draw some counters this game, but it was land, land, Think Twice, Augur (whiff!), land, and so on. 0-1 I’m very discouraged with my deck’s lack of performance, and I’m even more discouraged that UWG seems to be everywhere. CJ played it, skaro is playing it, a guy sitting next to me is playing it. Small Ball just can’t handle Thragtusk. But I’m 0-1, so maybe I’ll get a scrub this next match. Round 2 – Stephen, UWG Fuck! Game 1 – Stephen’s deck is aggro where CJ’s was more control. Didn’t matter. He pooped out 3/3 beasts left and right, and all I could do was pray for a Mortar or Rift. Nope. Game 2 – He mulls to 4, and I’m like, awwww yeah. Even though he starts slow, so do I, and he Nevermores my Snipe (the named card can’t be played while Nevermore is in play, which it will be for-fricken-ever cause Small Ball can’t deal with enchantments). I’m forced to apply the Electromancer beat down, which works, sorta. He casts another Nevermore on Dissipate, and the Detention Spheres the Electromancer (remove all of em from game so long as Sphere yadda yadda, dang enchantment!). Switching to Augur Beatdown Mode. And some burn to the face. It wasn’t pretty, but I won. Game 3 – I jumped out to an early lead, and was doing rather well, if I do say so myself. I managed to counter and/or burn his stuff, and my little dudes swung in, supplemented with some Guttersnipe action. I got a Talrand down, and started making little flying dudes. Excellent. He actually gained 10 life or so, but I had the game in hand. And then momentum began to swing to him. He got in to me with a ‘Tusk, which I allowed to hit me. I did kill it finally with a duo of drakes, and then Cyclonic Rifted his side, and countered his Thragtusk when he tried to play it again (this was a different one that I hadn’t killed, obviously). Woot for me! Endgame, I’m at 5, he’s at 12, but I have lots of dudes with which to smack him. He has only the 3/3 beast. I gotta swing with the team, I gots to! So I do. I expect him to block one of my guys, but he doesn’t. Excellent! I cast a Think Twice or something to make a blocker (from Talrand) for his beast, and pass the turn. He casts Detention Sphere on the drake (therefore, all drakes), and I flashback the Think Twice, hoping for a counter. I don’t get one, but no problem, he can only hit me for 3, and then I swing to kill. He attacks and plays Selesnya Charm to give the beast +2/+2. I have to smile, extend the hand, and say, “well played.” 0-2 The deck did better, but I’m still disappointed with it. And while I would prefer to win, that last game was fun enough that it didn’t sting too much. And now that I’m 0-fer, hopefully I’ll get paired with a real chump, this time! Meanwhile, skaro is 2-0 and feeling good about his deck. My niece isn’t doing so well, but I think she’s doing better than me. [ ]
Round 3 – Josh, UW Invisible Stalker Game 1 – Josh plays a turn 1 Hallowed Fountain, and I’m like great, more UWG. Luckily, he stopped with only the two colors. He plays a Stalker, I answer with a Guttersnipe and then another. He Pacifisms a Snipe and swings with the Stalker (who has an ench on it that gives it +1/+1 for each ench he controls). I ignore the Stalker. My Guttersnipes go ALL THE WAY, BABY!!
Game 2 – I saw very little of his deck and have no idea how to sideboard. I think I threw in a couple Essence Scatter just because I’m starting to hate seeing Desperate Ravings. I beat him pretty handily, so I’m not worried. I should have been, though. More enchantment shenanigans (O Ring, Detention Sphere, prolly a Nevermore in there too, I can’t remember). GAH! Why do they play so many damn enchantments?! I get him down to 12 with Electromancer beats, but his Stalker is 5/5 and it represents a clock that I can do nothing about (the word is “inexorable.”). Time for burn to the face. I throw it at him, knocking him down to 3, but I’m at 7, nope, 2 when his Stalker hits me. Must. Topdeck. Searing Spear.
I topdeck Searing Spear.
1-2
Round 4 – Jared, GW Game 1 – Jared is not happy with his deck. I am happy with mine. His dudes are little, so I can burn them. He does annoy me with a couple Giant Growths, but it was all too easy.
Game 2 – Jared is even more unhappy with his deck. I am still happy with mine. He’s playing an aggro deck built around Silverblade Paladin (bond with a dude, both have double strike), but I repeatedly kill the paladin, and the other guys aren’t so scary. He’s actually kind of throwing a bit of a hissy fit, and after he scoops (at 12 life), he gives me a half-ass apology, saying that it isn’t me, it’s his raza-frazzin’ deck, and he’s retiring it because he’s getting sick of losing to Searing Spear. I don’t tell him that I’m happy I finally have lots of things to kill with Searing Spear.
2-2
Looking better, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m having visions of squeaking into the Top 8. Not gonna happen, prolly, but a man can dream, right? One more round to go, and skaro is 4-0 (good deck, needs more Augur of Bolas), and I think my niece is not doing so well. She tells me she’s afraid she’s gonna finish dead last, and we have a debate about tie-breakers and byes; during this discussion I admit that I don’t really understand fully how Swiss works.
Round 5 – Joe, Mirror! Game 1 – It’s turn 3 when Joe says something about how it looks like we’re playing the same deck. I was thinking the same thing. Sure enough, he’s playing a Guttersnipe deck, but he has a few more bells and whistles than Small Ball does (Tamiyo, Niv-Mizzet). I think back to those days of yore, a few weeks ago, when I played against another mirror match, and the dude had bells and whistles. I beat him, so I’m not real worried about Joe’s version. This was a good game, and I managed to keep his nastiest stuff under control with judicious use of counters. Of course, he does the same to me. It was this game that I reminded myself that I have the ability to play around counters if I apply myself; he had a Guttersnipe in play, I had a Cyclonic Rift, a Mizzium Mortar, and a Searing Spear in hand. I drew out the first counter with the Mortar, the second with the Rift; he was tapped out, so I Speared him in the face to finish it (putting myself down to 6 in the process, btw, which is exactly how I saw it going).
Game 2 – This game was a different story. I missed a couple early land drops, and foolishly decided to tempt fate by running a Guttersnipe out into burn with no counter backup. Joe proceeded to play a Snipe into my tapped out board, and then a second. He didn’t do anything fancy, just good old fashioned Guttersnipe action.
Game 3 – The whole match, we’re discussing our decks, wanting to have a deep theorycraft conversation while at the same time trying not to give out too much info about what we’re running specifically. Neither one of us are particularly impressed with Desperate Ravings, and Joe suggests Amass the Components. I like this idea, mostly because it has a cool name, but it’s a 4cc sorcery, so prolly not that good. I prefer Inspiration, but whatever. This game, neither of our decks does what it does. I managed to get two Augur of Bolas to stick, while Joe drew nothing but land, Think Twice, Ravings, and more land. I countered some of stuff, burned more of his stuff, and the Augur beatdown took the match.
3-2
Well, well, well! I still have hopes of Top 8, and skaro is 4-1, so he’s in. My niece wants to play EDH, but I tell her I’m 3-2 and might make Top 8. She tells me there is no Top 8. I say, yes there is. She says, okay, if there is and you don’t make it and skaro does, we play EDH. I agree to this.
There was no Top 8. Hmm, it seems I was misled…
It comes time for prizes. Tons of swag to be drafted, draft order by how you finished. I’m at 15 (wouldn’t have made Top 8, anyway, but not too bad), skaro is at 4 (bwah? thought he’d be higher), and my niece is at 30 or something (heh, bummer for her, but heh). skaro grabs the box of Avacyn Restored (sweet!), and the picks roll down to me. I’m watching what’s going, and what I’m really after is the Judge’s Foil Karmic Guide for KARADOR. That and the shiny Command Tower (also a Judge’s Foil?). And I’m tempted by the (Judge’s Foil?) Sinkhole. Really tempted. Luckily, somebody snags the Sinkhole before I get to pick, which is a good thing cause I wanted that Karmic Guide. And it’s mine. My niece snags a shiny Xiahou Dun (which would also be good for KARADOR), and says that makes 3 of those for her (BWAH?). Rolls back to skaro, and the chick that picked before him snagged the last Karmic Guide (which he wanted bad; she grabbed it cause she and her husband owed him a bunch of cards in a trade). I can’t remember what he drafted instead. My turn, all the Command Towers are gone (dang!), and I see a sleeve fat with cards, Xathrid Gorgon on top. I ask what it is. It’s like a dozen foil Xathrid Gorgons. Hmm. I take a Woodland Cemetery, instead (which I later found out was donated to the charity by my niece in a roundabout sort of way; for some reason, I had her sign the sleeve it came in).
Overall, a pretty fun tournament considering the fact that I hadn’t really wanted to go. Small Ball did okay, not as well as I would hope, but not too bad considering. And I walked away with some really good swag.
How would I change Small Ball? Well, first, the sideboard gets fixed! Pithing Needle and Ghost Quarter need to go in. I’ve never once used Electrickery, so that needs to come out (of the board). I think I need Essence Scatter main (always brought it in), and Desperate Ravings needs to go. I want more Mizzium Mortars, and Flames of the Firebrand wasn’t very cool today.
Actually, as much as I hate to admit it, I just don’t think Small Ball has enough game against this environment. Too much fat, too much lifegain. Joe in Round 5 kept telling me how he really wants this deck to be good, and I do too, but I’m not convinced that it can be. Maybe a third color? Eh, I dunno about that…
EDIT: Oops, completely forgot that skaro won a free ticket to GP Indy, which, if my Google fu is strong, means that in a few weeks he'll be playing RtR sealed at a Grand Prix? I could be wrong, but I could be right. Good job, yo.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Mar 23, 2013 4:00:50 GMT -6
A quick hit here since I haven't done one in a while. Me with Lazy, redshirt with his ol' buddy Sol'kanar, and TGL with Krond. We tried to get TGL to play Quantum Mechanics (Riku), but evidently he wasn't in the mood. redshirt rolled randomly for Friendly Purple Hippo, refused to play it, then rolled Quantum Mechanics, and refused to play that, too. Which makes me wonder, why roll randomly if you don't accept the roll?
Early on, Sol'kanar develops his mana base nicely, whilst Krond and I struggle (me with screw, he with flood). I do get an early Mana Vault to power out Szadek, and Sol'kanar promptly Drakes it. I counter his Sol'kanar when he tries to play it, and then take some pings from my Vault. During this time, I block Szadek with the Drake, and then subsequently Dance of the Dead the dead Drake, trading it for Szadek. Pretty slick, I thought, especially since Sol'kanar never paid the 1B to untap it (even after I pointed it out!). Szadek was promptly slain, and so was my Seizan, Perverter of Truth.
So I have nothing going on except for a Mana Vault that's pinging me, but luckily, all Sol'kanar has is a Rhystic Study. And Krond has his Enchantress, but few enchantments to use with it. I proceed to whine about my draw engine being blown up, but nobody seems sympathetic.
I then have my RTFC moment of the night: Lazav has hexproof! Doi! I play him way later than I should have, and then counter Lord of the Void when Sol'kanar tries to get him out. Lazav becomes scary quick-like. And, due to Lazav being all void-like, Sol'kanar tutors up an Oblivion Stone - behold the power of a one critter board. Krond and I discuss his options for Cessation and his lonely enchantress, and then Sol'kanar blows up the world. I didn't have a problem with this.
So a couple turns and a Phyrexian Reclamation later, Sol'kanar Drakes Krond from Krond and attacks him with it. I tell Krond that I will do him a favor, and proceed to Terror Krond. Luckily, I have Lazav in play. Krond doesn't seem to agree that I did him a favor. Like I care. I summon up a Dreamborn Muse and a No Mercy. Indeed. Sol'kanar wisely decides to ignore me, and Krond Swords the Muse.
I'm feeling good, Sol'kanar has stalled (after a quasi-cool Yawg's Win turn, which wasn't really that cool since he didn't do anything broken), and Krond has done pretty much nothing all game. Well, he does have Karmic Justice and Privileged Position in play (a nonbo, I know), but other than that...
And then Krond asplode. Krond + Armadillo Cloak + Bear Umbra + Ancestral Mask. We are unable to destroy it, and Krond swings his mighty 22/22 self at Sol'kanar (destroying would be blocker Avatar of Fury during attack declaration). Sol'kanar falls, and I'm like, fine, I can deal with this nonsense.
Oh, were it so. My turn, I confidently Life's Finale. Oops, Bear Umbra. Crap. Well, I still got No Mercy... Nope, Krond kills it. I valiantly replay Lazav, Traumatize, find a flier, and then am informed that Krond has trample. Scoop.
And so, as is Krond's wont, he comes out of nowhere and smashes the table. But whatever.
I like Lazy, I just think it needs a little work (not much, just a little). It's black and blue, but doesn't seem to draw many cards. And, it's a little bit different from my other decks; I think the cool kids would call this control, just because it has several counterspells in it (although I would call all my EDH decks "control," even though they have few to zero counters in em). I also felt the need for some ramp tonight, but I may just have not drawn any of what it's got. Whatever the case, the deck feels powerful, is fun to play, and I think it gets along well with my other decks (which means it's fun to play against); and that's all I really care about.
And I could go on and on, but you're sick of reading this. So there you go.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on May 16, 2013 19:38:39 GMT -6
M14 coming in July of 2013 (okay...). Slivers are back!! W00T!!!1!!1! Oh, wait... I have a number of problems with this: - It looks like a metal zombie or something, not like a sliver. The art is cool, sure, but there's a ton of art just like this on MtG cards, and it doesn't look anything like a sliver. (And what it has to do with making your slivers 1 tougher, I have no idea...)
- It says "Sliver creatures you control..." instead of "All slivers..." Part of the charm/flavor/fun (for me, anyway) was that any sliver will always make all other slivers better, good guy or bad guy. Now, only good guys get better. Boring.
- It's basically the same as the card below, only less interesting, and I have a ton of those that I never played!
For comparison: Just wanted to rant for a minute.
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Post by redshirt on May 17, 2013 8:35:39 GMT -6
Image fail.
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Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on May 20, 2013 19:14:21 GMT -6
The Picard facepalm, how shameful. Try this: sliver pic.Also, the Elder Dragon himself discusses Dragon's Maze EDH generals:
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