Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
FNM Tournament Report, 3/22/13
Just got home from my FNM where I placed first 5-0. Ill try to provide as much details of the match as possible. There are 61 cards and 24 lands but out of the 13 games I played I only got mana screwed on one. But typically a 2 land opening hand with this deck is pretty risky if youre not on the draw.
Match 1: Junk Rites/Midrange, 2-0
-I didnt even have to use my tormod's crypt for either game. Beat him in less than 10 minutes first match with Gideon and Restoration Angel, the second match took 45 min, since he was thragtusking like crazy and was killing off my Reckoners with abrupt decay, but eventually I got a Gideon, Tamiyo, and Reckoner on the field with Blasphemous Act in hand and eventually got the game from there after he exhausted his Unburial Rites. Sideboard: -1 Izzet charm -1 harvest pyre -1 Snapcaster Mage -2 Azorius Charm......+2 Tormod's Crypt +2 Oblivion Ring +1 Supreme Verdict.
Match 2: American Flash, 2-0
-This player was running the original american flash version with runechanter's pike. I dont really remember well what happened in this match up to lead me to win, but I remember Gideon, boros reckoner, and restoration angel winning me the 1st game, then Gideon and Thundermaw Hellkite got me the second game. I was expecting this matchup to be really long and grindy but both games took less than 40 minutes. Sideboard: -2 Azorius Charm -1 Izzet charm -2 Searing Spear -1 Boros Reckoner, -1 Supreme Verdict......+4 Geist of Saint Traft +1 Counterflux +2 Dispel.
Match 3: Domri Gruul, 2-1...Edited it from jund aggro because now that I think about it, there was no black, I just assumed it was jund since I saw Burning Tree, boar, E1, and Rampager.
-I lost the first game, then won the next 2. Not really much to say here, In the 2nd I tried to prevent as much damage as possible and once I cleared the field, dropped Gideon and Restoration angel and won from there in one match. There was a Domri Rade dropped at one point but it didnt really do much. Third Match my opponent got mana stuck at 3 and I just eventually killed him with Boros Reckoner, Snapcaster mage, and blasphemous act once he had some dudes on the field again. Boros Reckoner is really good. Sideboard:-2 Boros Charm, -1 Tamiyo, -2 Dissipate....+2 Oblivion Ring +2 Pillar of Flame, +1 Supreme Verdict
Match 4: Jund Aggro, 2-1
-I won the first game this time and then lost the second. first match had a buttload of removal/stall and used gideon to attack when the field is cleared. I lost second game due to playing Gideon with 7 counters with 8 life left when he had a 2/2 experiment one and a 3/3 mogg flunkie. He then played a falkenrath aristocrat and killed me. I had a supreme verdict in hand, but I wasnt expecting artistocrat to come and thought I could live one more turn then turn the game around. Dont remember third game, but I remember me winning with a Thundermaw Hellkite+Slayers' Stronghold, doing damage while keeping a solid defense against aggro creatures. Sideboard:-2 Boros Charm, -1 Tamiyo, -2 Dissipate....+2 Oblivion Ring +2 Pillar of Flame, +1 Supreme Verdict
Match 5: American Midrange (Assemble the Legion version) 2-1
-Even though I was the only undefeated at this point, I guess I still had to win in order to seal my 1st place spot because there were a good amount of x-1s still. But anyways, 1st game, I got the opponent down to 12 with snapcaster and boros charm. Back and forth for a few turns until he got restoration angel and tapped out for Niv Mizzet Dracogenius on the field. But I also had a Boros reckoner on the field with Blasphemous Act in hand and had exactly 6 mana to use next turn and ended the game there. Second game I had 2 lands a geist and 2 boros reckoners with a think twice, so chances of getting a third land were decent since I was on the draw. But nope got stuck on 2 mana for however many turns to the point where my opponent was casting sphinx's revelations left and right. I couldnt have asked for a better third game, I had all the sufficient counters and removal when needed and was able to get gideon and restoration angel out. From there, kept my opponent at bay and eventually everything worked out. He did get Assemble the legion out, but by then my Gideon was already out and the tokens were only helping Gideon to buff up more. I was able to overload mizzium mortars and the game ended a turn or 2 later. Sideboard: -2 Azorius Charm -1 Izzet charm -2 Searing Spear -1 Boros Reckoner, -1 Supreme Verdict,-1 Essence Scatter......+4 Geist of Saint Traft +1 Counterflux +2 Dispel, +1 Oblivion Ring.
Closing notes:
-Today I was thinking about switching to a more aggro version of uwr, but I decided to give my most current build a try since I did practice with it and it exceeded my expectations in terms of efficiency and time. My longest match was probably against the junk rites deck. I've been considering this build for the tournament next week in chicago 3/30. But wanted to be sure before I changed decks to a more aggro version.
-Sorry I couldn't explain more in detail on the matches but, I was pretty out of it at the time and just played as the game went on. I was readily prepared for Junk Rites since I've had trouble with it in the past with it and even made a proxy deck just to practice against. I sort of wanted to face at least 1 Jund midrange to see how redirect would work, but cant complain since I faced 2 Jund/gruul aggro decks which are being played just as much. I also like playing aggro since it's usually just creature vs removal in the beginning, but once you get through their mob of creatures and get board control back, you can start making some big plays and just take the game from there. I hate playing against blue, its so hard to find the right time to cast sphinx's revelation later in the game. But I was especially pleased with my performance against both American midrange decks. This was the match up I was most curious about since I've never had a mirror match till today, but everything just worked out the way I wanted it.
-Gideon is working really well for me, I only run 2, but he was there whenever I needed or wanted him. I may even run 3 just because he puts indirect pressure on the opponent and can really bring the damage in, but I probably wont do that unless I plan to make the deck more around him. Only thing that really took care of Gideon was Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere. I had boros charm for dreadbore. Junk Rites and the aggro decks definitely did not expect to see it, thus did not know how to deal with it. Exile all permanents ability? Never had to use it yet and dont plan to unless Im in a desperate situation where Ill lose if I dont. Overall Gideon has been good against all my match ups today and probably was the reason for 50-60% of my wins.
-I was running 4 Augurs in my original build, but hey eventually got taken over by Boros Reckoner. I also dont like them early in the game since they tend to mana screw me sometimes, but I do like them later in the game when I need to refill my hand with answers. But asides from that, I dont see too much benefit from running him since I have a good amount of planeswalkers and creatures in the deck.
-As for changes, I may add 1-2 Angel of Serenity, 1-3 Assemble the Legion, and maybe 1 more Boros charm in side. Probably will take out 1 Boros Reckoner for 1 Angel of Serenity, but as for the others, Im not sure what to take out. I might also take out the pillars for annihilating Fire since there are a lot of thragtusk/angel of serenity/rites shenanigans running around. I won't let them keep hiding behind Thragtusk just to bring it back to life. I've been taking a break from jace, memory adept, even though he's been favorite planeswalker since m12, just because everyone is prepared for him now. Also been considering Blind obedience, aetherize, and unsummon, but I might save that for my other deck idea.
Rght now is the time for innovation, and cards that may not seem so good theoretically can bring decks to their knees unexpectedly. Venturing into new territory is the main reason I got back into magic 2 months ago after a 1.5 year break. So many deck combinations and possibilities are out there, but people dont wanna put money into a deck thats not guaranteed to put up a challenge in a tournament setting. I was always a UWR or Bant player before I quit, and am really happy that I chose the right deck. I feel like the element of surprise is the best strategy in this game. The best part of playing this game is playing "bad" cards and making them good. But thanks for reading through my ramblings and hope that I provided some sort of incite.
R1: Junk Reanimator *(1-5: 2)
Game 1: Counter everything, and kill him with Restoration Angels, plus Aurelia, the Warleader.
-4 Augur of Bolas, -3 Snapcaster Mage, -1 Pillar of Flame, -2 Think Twice, -1 Cavern of Souls, -1 Counterflux
+4 Izzet Staticaster, +3 Rest in Peace, +2 Jace, Memory Adept, +2 Supreme Verdict, +1 Negate
Game 2: He mulls to 5, and I open with staticaster, 2 restos, and land. The game is still embarrassingly long, despite me not stumbling and drawing a million cards. (2-0)
R2: Junk Midrange (1-5: 1)
Game 1: Counter everything relevant, and win with Aurelia, and 2 Restos.
-4 Augur of Bolas, -1 Counterflux, -1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Supreme Verdict, +2 Negate, +2 Izzet Staticaster
Game 2: He curves out on the play, and I can’t deal with multiple thragtusks, loxodon smiter, etc.
- 1 Negate
+1 Counterflux
Game 3: Mill him out with Jace. (2-1)
R3: Esper Spirits (1-5: 1.5)
Game 1: Kill him with more Revelations and Aurelia.
Game 2: Can’t find the verdict in time to deal with Caverned Geist of St Traft, even though I baited out the rootborn defense earlier on the first geist.
+1 Counterflux,
-1 Snapcaster Mage (He showed me Rest in Peace)
Game 3: Caverned Geist of St Traft, plus rancor, ethereal armor, spectral flight, and me without a verdict. (1-2)
I'm considering changing the 4rth Staticaster to one of these possible cards:
-Syncopate
-Rolling Temblor
-Dispel
I was banking on buying 3 Geists for my sideboard before the tournament, but they were sold out which resulted in my sideboard being jacked.
Game 1 - Aristocrats 0-2
My inexperience lost me this game. I had no idea what the deck plays, what are its win conditions, I knew nothing. Counter spelled the wrong things and lost bad. Game 2 I got close to beating him, but he top decks a caverns and plays Obzedat.
Game 2 - American Geists 2-1 G1: First game I out raced his Geists with Slayers' Stronghold-Resto and boros reckoner to finish with Aurelia.
G2: Out raced by Geists
G3: Instead of rushing Reckoner, I saved mana to counter spell geists than won with slayer's-Resto
Match 3 - Jund 2-1 (Most fun matches of the day) G1: Controlled board with Counterspells and unsummons with me only having a Ral Zarek. Throw out Aurelia, -7 on Ral for two extra turns with Slayers' Stronghold. GG.
G2: He resolves a Deadbridge Chant and gets 2 Thrags and a Sire, than takes my Aurelia. GG
G3: Counterspells until turn 6 with two Aurelia's in hand. First one swings for 6, than he kills it on his turn. Bring in the second one and he scoops.
Match 4 - Bant Hexproof 2-1 G1: I keep land open to counterspell Invisible stalker and keep unsummoning/Azorius charming his loxodon smiter while I swing with resto and reckoner.
G2: No counter spells He does his hexproof thing for a quick win
G3: Counterspell his Geist, ride to victory on Aurelia with counterspells/unsummon(loxodon).
Match 5 - Sigh, Junk Reanimator 0-2 G1: Only drew a couple creatures and no Aurelia, counterspelled the reanimator card, so he beats me with his cavern/angels. I held on for a bit, but was simply overwhelmed. Also, losing land to acidic slime is no fun. No fun at all.
G2: Use my sideboard for the first time all day and bring in clones. He actually took out his reanimator cards because I counterspelled all of them the first game. I have to mulligan down to 5 because of no land, than to have an extremely slow start as I couldn't even drawn any land. Basically was overwhelmed with thrags, sin collectors, and resto's. I still fought hard and gave him a match as we drew a large crowd. Man, I wish I could of beat him.
All in all I had a blast and learned a ton. I really wish I could of bought those Geists as I feel I would of won against the Aristocrats and the reanimator decks. Is there any type of general strategy against those decks or no?
Allstars of the day:
Aurelia
Syncopate
Unsummon
Slayers' Stronghold
I was banking on buying 3 Geists for my sideboard before the tournament, but they were sold out which resulted in my sideboard being jacked.
Game 1 - Aristocrats 0-2
My inexperience lost me this game. I had no idea what the deck plays, what are its win conditions, I knew nothing. Counter spelled the wrong things and lost bad. Game 2 I got close to beating him, but he top decks a caverns and plays Obzedat.
Game 2 - American Geists 2-1 G1: First game I out raced his Geists with Slayers' Stronghold-Resto and boros reckoner to finish with Aurelia.
G2: Out raced by Geists
G3: Instead of rushing Reckoner, I saved mana to counter spell geists than won with slayer's-Resto
Match 3 - Jund 2-1 (Most fun matches of the day) G1: Controlled board with Counterspells and unsummons with me only having a Ral Zarek. Throw out Aurelia, -7 on Ral for two extra turns with Slayers' Stronghold. GG.
G2: He resolves a Deadbridge Chant and gets 2 Thrags and a Sire, than takes my Aurelia. GG
G3: Counterspells until turn 6 with two Aurelia's in hand. First one swings for 6, than he kills it on his turn. Bring in the second one and he scoops.
Match 4 - Bant Hexproof 2-1 G1: I keep land open to counterspell Invisible stalker and keep unsummoning/Azorius charming his loxodon smiter while I swing with resto and reckoner.
G2: No counter spells He does his hexproof thing for a quick win
G3: Counterspell his Geist, ride to victory on Aurelia with counterspells/unsummon(loxodon).
Match 5 - Sigh, Junk Reanimator 0-2 G1: Only drew a couple creatures and no Aurelia, counterspelled the reanimator card, so he beats me with his cavern/angels. I held on for a bit, but was simply overwhelmed. Also, losing land to acidic slime is no fun. No fun at all.
G2: Use my sideboard for the first time all day and bring in clones. He actually took out his reanimator cards because I counterspelled all of them the first game. I have to mulligan down to 5 because of no land, than to have an extremely slow start as I couldn't even drawn any land. Basically was overwhelmed with thrags, sin collectors, and resto's. I still fought hard and gave him a match as we drew a large crowd. Man, I wish I could of beat him.
All in all I had a blast and learned a ton. I really wish I could of bought those Geists as I feel I would of won against the Aristocrats and the reanimator decks. Is there any type of general strategy against those decks or no?
Allstars of the day:
Aurelia
Syncopate
Unsummon
Slayers' Stronghold
My friend plays aristocrats and i can tell you that Izzet Staticaster is just ridiculous against them.. you can ping their spirits, aristocrats, knight of infamys, champions, travelers. It just crushes them.
Against reanimator clone is really nice, staticaster can erase their dorks, you really just have to keep them off unburial rites [insert gy hate or counterspell here]
I just wanted to throw out some advice mainly because you said you struggled with aristocrat and my experience has showed that staticaster just makes the aristocrat player flip tables and get angry. It's funny when they slaughter games them and you just pummel them with geist :P.
My friend plays aristocrats and i can tell you that Izzet Staticaster is just ridiculous against them.. you can ping their spirits, aristocrats, knight of infamys, champions, travelers. It just crushes them.
Against reanimator clone is really nice, staticaster can erase their dorks, you really just have to keep them off unburial rites [insert gy hate or counterspell here]
I just wanted to throw out some advice mainly because you said you struggled with aristocrat and my experience has showed that staticaster just makes the aristocrat player flip tables and get angry. It's funny when they slaughter games them and you just pummel them with geist :P.
Thanks! I will throw in 2-3 in my sideboard for Tuesday night. I just ordered my Geists from Amazon, so hopefully they come in before FNM.
Once again, I have been defeated by Junk Reanimator. Do any of you guys have any tips on how to deal with junk? I have gotten close to beating it, but I can't, and it's really frustrating.
Standard: RWUJeskai Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers Legacy: RBurn EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders) Current decklists are posted here
I went 2-2 with UWR Geist Midrange last FNM. It wasn't the best night but I recovered to pull to .500. I had some really bad draws in the first two games.
Round 1 VS G/R Aggro (0-2)
G1: I keep a hand of Geist, Resto, Thundermaw, and 4 lands, two of which are shocks. Seems like a good hand to keep as long as I draw some spells. He won the die roll and led off with a Stromkirk Noble. I drew Sacred Foundry and passed. He used his T2 to play an Ash Zealot and swing for 3. I drew another shockland an passed. I ended up drawing nothing but shocklands and with no way to really interact with his board I ended up getting burned out.
G2: I was on the play and kept a hand of Island, Sacred Foundry, Turn/Burn, Boros Reckoner, Geist, Searing Spear and Pillar. I played the foundry and passed. He led with the Noble, which I pillared and then played the Island, drawing another Geist. He played Burning Tree into Flinthoof Boar and passed. I drew an Izzet charm, meaning I had to filter if I wanted to get anywhere. He attacked and played Reckoner, dropping me to 15. I filtered and found Sulfur Falls. I then made the illegal play of casting Reckoner without 3 red or white, which my opponent and I both missed until after the game had ended. He speared it, which led to me killing the Boar and he swung for another 5. I tried one for one removing threats but didn't have enough steam. A better draw would have helped both games, not sure what I could have done differently.
G2 VS Jund Midrange (0-2)
G1: Not a matchup I want to face, I was on the draw again. I kept a mulliganed hand of Boros Charm, Izzet charm, Reckoner, Thundermaw, and 3 lands (after my draw). I was able to get the Reckoner to land with the Thundermaw and apply pressure, but he had Nighthawks MD to stem the attack after he dropped a turn 5 Sire of Insanity, making me discard 2 Boros Charms, a land, and an Izzet Charm. I top decked a Turn//Burn to kill the Sire, but couldn't attack into the board without a way to give Reckoner first strike. He eventually top decked a Liliana to wipe my Thundermaw once he dealt with Reckoner and I lost to an Alpha strike.
G2: Again, a bad draw. On the play I had two lands, Negate, Geist, Spear, and two Snapcasters. I Negated a Farseek after I drew no lands to try and keep him behind, but he drew another and got to four lands. I sat again with no land draws, and he played Liliana to plus 1. I speared the Liliana to 1 EOT, got my third land to play Geist. He had Barter in Blood, then next turn dropped a Ground Seal. It was over after he played Olivia followed up with Thragtusk.
Game 3 VS Naya Blitz (2-0)
I rebounded these draws with some bad luck from my opponents. I kept a great 7 on the draw with Geist, one shock, two dual lands, a spear, snapcaster, and Boros Charm. He led with land and nothing, then I played land. He played a Burning Tree into Experiment one. I played a land and passed. He played Flinthoof Boar but I speared it and went to 17. I got the turn 3 Geist and he couldn't do anything about it, leading to a Boros Charm to the face win.
G2 I had an amazing hand with Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner, Foundry, Retreat, Falls, Spear and Pillar. He played land after mulliganing to 6 and played Experiment One. I played land and passed. He played land and dropped two more experiment ones. I played land and passed. He played Mayor which I speared, attacked me to 16. I played Reckoner and he stalled out with only two lands. I attacked and dropped another Reckoner, eventually winning through infinite life.
G4 VS G/R Aggro (2-0)
I won this one handily - Izzet Charm did a lot of work countering a Bonfire that would have killed my Geist. He mulled to 6 both games and I got Pillar out of the side when it counted.
Reflection:
-Pillar is needed mainboard. I faced 3/4 Aggro decks and lost the first G/R matchup because I didn't have quick interaction.
-All lands must Cast Reckoner; it's terrible to have an island and sit on reckoner in the opening hand.
-Izzet Charm is an all star. It's so versatile at finding threats and answers, making snapcaster better, and countering spells that are relevant like Bonfire.
-Liliana needs more answers. She causes so many problems for this deck.
Based on these results, I have made these changes.
MD
-1 Island
-1 Turn/Burn
+2 Pillar of Flame
SB
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Dispel
Deck is as follows now, with maybe upping to all four Pillars and moving Syncopate to the SB.
Standard: RWUJeskai Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers Legacy: RBurn EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders) Current decklists are posted here
Played a MTGO Daily yesterday and went 3-1.
Deck list very similar to Ken Yeoh's list from the Dallas Open, but I run x2 Aetherling main and 2 Jace, AoT and no Tamiyo main.
Round 1 vs. Naya Midrange (1-2)
He was playing Voice, Loxodon, Aurelia, Sigarda, Tusk, Reckoner, Huntmaster and the like. Game 1 I was able to stabilize the board and Assemble the Legion got out of hand for the win. Game 2 we both got to top-decking mode amazingly and he top-decked Aurelia, then Sigarda, while I topped a Land and a Syncopate...yay. Game 3 I threw away. Instead of casting Verdict on his lone Reckoner late game, I cloned it, then his next turn he drops Kessig Run and gets in to me enough to win (I had Aetherling waiting to come out next turn). I played incredibly bad Game 3. This match was winnable to say the least.
Round 2 vs. Bant Control (2-1)
Aetherling war! Game 1 Assemble the Legion took care of business and I easily handled his 3 Thragtusks (Turn/Burn you are awesome). Game 2 he got Aetherling online first, and I was a turn behind. Game 3, he again got Aetherling online first, BUT HE PLAYED IT WITH 6 LANDS! Hello, Supreme Verdict and next turn my own Aetherling. He made a big gamble playing it w/ no Blue left open...especially when by Game 3, he should know I have a few cards that can get rid of him. Game 3, I also had a Jace, Memory Adept in from the SB decking him at this point, too.
Round 3 vs. RDW (2-1)
He had an incredible opening hand and it was over by Turn 4. My starting hand had 2 lands w/ some good spells, which is typically okay, but not fast enough for this one. In goes 2 Izzet Staticaster, SB in my 4th Pillar, extra Terminus. Game 2, Turn 4 Verdict took care of business and I answered him 1 for 1 until Aetherling hit the field. Game 3 was much of the same. Verdict turn 4, Assemble turn 5, chump block for a bit, answer 1-for-1 until Assemble got too big. He had to Mulligan to 5 Game 3 and had a pretty less-than-optimal hand...but that's Magic for you.
Round 4 vs. RG Aggro (2-1)
Really, this match-up was almost a copy of the previous round. He won Game 1 very quickly, and Games 2 and 3 went my way. Early Pillars, Spears, Azorius Charms helped me get to the mid-game and he was top-decking before long which this deck obviously loves. He conceded the moment Aetherling resolved in Game 3.
All-in-all a good day. Jace, AoT was awesome as usual. The 1st match was on me as I likely should've won. Surprised I didn't see Jund or Reanimator as that's all I've seen in the 2-man's lately.
No real changes to the deck. I run 5 counters main (2 Dissipate, 1 Essence Scatter, 2 Syncopate) and I am wondering if going to 4 would be better. Although, counterspells were quite good for me during this tournament.
I have this deck in "real life", too...and I run 4 Geist of Saint Traft in my sideboard (which would've been awesome in those first 2 matches) but I do not want to spend $100 on them for MTGO, too...woe is me.
I still think this deck has game against most of what's out there. And it's pretty customizable as well to suit certain styles.
Standard: RWUJeskai Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers Legacy: RBurn EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders) Current decklists are posted here
Round 1 - vs Esper Mill Control: 2-1
Game 1: Managed to ride a Resto + Augur to victory, while denying him putting anything down on board.
Game 2: Hit all his land drops and managed to keep me from getting any real threats down and milled me.
Game 3: Was a bit of a long game, but again managed to get some threats down and keep them there. Him drawing into a ton of lands didn't help.
Round 2 - vs GW Agro: 2-0
Wasn't an exciting game, they guy was rather new, so not going to go into detail
Round 3 - vs 4C Reanimator: 2-1
Game 1: He never pulled a black land and I did a lot of damage with two Augurs and eventually a resto
Game 2: He managed to win, can't remember how tho, think I just never got the answers
Game 3: Got some early presure and denied him playing anything while he dug for a cavern.
Round 4 - Bg Control: 2-1
Game 1: I resolved a Resto and then protected it from a removal spell early. He never drew another spell and I denied him any thing that mattered.
Game 2: He was drawing all his threats and eventually one stuck that I couldn't get rid off killed me.
Gmae 3: Was a close affair, he resolved a lilly and took me ages to get rid of her as she was wrecking my hand and he had appetite for brains and duress, but I still managed to pull through a victory when I top decked a dragon.
Round 5 - Naya Ramp: 2-0
Game 1: He resolved a bunch of dorks very early and then played a Wolfir Silverheart on a dork. I bounced the dork, then the wolfir three turns in a row and really wrecked his tempo. I got a angel down and started chipping away and got there.
Game 2: I got some threats down and he managed to resolve a single wolfir, I denied everything else. We traded blows very closely, but I managed to put some blocks in front of his threat while he never could me.
Went 3-1-1 at local FNM with a UWR geist midrange build, Went up against Jund, UWR, BG Midrange, Mono Red Aggro, and Naya Midrange.
Edit: Sorry I had the wrong link, this should be the right one. But if still doesnt work, you can access it through my blog by clicking the number next to blog entries.
So we had 103 player tourney this last weekend. One of the local LGS's has been pushing to try and get a tourney of over 100 people so we can try get GP's.
I was horribly hungover, I'm still not sure how I was even able to get up in time managed walking around, the first 3 rounds I was a zombie, which also resulted in my first round loss, where I kept a bad hand vs a agro deck and got punished, where I'm pretty sure I could have beaten the deck. My next loss was the last round before top 8 vs Jund. I got a bit cocky in the 2nd game and made a play mistake, which cost me that game, resulting in us going to a 3rd game, where I drew one too many lands in a row and ran out of gas. Ended up going 5-2 and placed 10th. Only one 5-2 made it into top 8, there should have been 3, but 2 of the 4-1 players decided to take a sneaky ID. If more than 2 guys decided to ID, then there would have been a chance some of them didn't make top 8, so it looked like we all had to play, so they took a huge risk, but it paid off. Anyway, I was really happy with my play throughout the day, I felt I played mostly solid (bar the bad keep in the 2nd round) and the deck seems very solid. I would change up the side board though. I never once used the izzet staticasters and I'm not sure I really need them. Celestial Flare is amazing vs Bant Hexproof, I want to bump it up to 3 slots it's that important. Want to drop a dispel for another negate, which I felt I needed more of vs Jund. My deck might look like this going forward:
"Over the course of 5 rounds, I burned my opponent for the win in every single game, save 1 combo win with Young Pyromancer and Burn at the Stake that came out of nowhere, even from my end.
Young Pyromancer was such a threat whenever I played it that it ate removal like a champ every single time. I love the idea of comboing with Battle Hymn, but realistically, it just won't happen, so I'm likely to swap the Young Pyromancers, Battle Hymns, and Burn at the Stake for more utility.
I thought that Renounce the Guilds would be an all-star, but I came up against mono-colored threats all day long. In that meta, it belonged in the sideboard, but I would still main deck it as a general rule.
Chandra did good things all day long - on that note, my biggest regret was not running Melek in the main. I audibled this morning by swapping the Izzet maze-runner for Jace so that I'd have a little more consistency and durability vs. aggro, but the amount of card advantage you can get if he sticks is ridiculous in this style of deck. When Melek is out with Chandra on the table, opponents are terrified. It's a good feeling.
Everything else functioned as anticipated, with the exception that I aimed a lot more burn at the dome than I thought I would. Pillars that I expected to shoot down Voice of Resurgences were usually just 2 points to you.
Cards that never came out of the sideboard: Past in Flames, Guttersnipe, Pithing Needle, Ratchet Bomb, Shock, Searing Spear. I never had an opening to combo, so Past in Flames should probably come out. Taking out the extra Guttersnipe was the right decision for the deck that I tried to run, but refining it to get away from combo, it should go back into the main. Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb were concessions to particular archetypes that I never faced, but I feel comfortable letting them collect dust in the side. Shock and Searing Spear could easily become different cards, but I chose them in case I ended up fighting faster decks and needed more efficient removal. Aurelia's Fury and Silence were both surprisingly effective when I brought them in, giving me an extra turn to set up the win. Bonfire was sadly lackluster, but I'd still try to find a place for it in the 75 until it rotates."
Personally, I don't like Battle Hymn in there. I'd make them additional Renounce the Guilds, or Snapcaster Mage, helix, or sphinx's revelation.
But it sounds like Chandra was doing great things. And that makes me happy. I like the idea of using Melek to know what the top card is, maximizing the value out of chandra.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Evil is boring. The universe is friendly. Life is on your side. Joy is your birthright. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. In fact, all of creation wants you to succeed. Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. . . Life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.
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Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Just got home from my FNM where I placed first 5-0. Ill try to provide as much details of the match as possible. There are 61 cards and 24 lands but out of the 13 games I played I only got mana screwed on one. But typically a 2 land opening hand with this deck is pretty risky if youre not on the draw.
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Restoration Angel
2 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Tamiyo, the moon sage
Spells:22
3 Searing Spear
3 Azorius Charm
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Boros Charm
2 Dissipate
2 Think Twice
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Harvest pyre
1 Izzet charm
1 essence scatter
1 Mizzium Mortars
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Slayers' Stronghold
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Dispel
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Redirect (For Bonfire and Rakdos' Return)
1 Counterflux
Match 1: Junk Rites/Midrange, 2-0
-I didnt even have to use my tormod's crypt for either game. Beat him in less than 10 minutes first match with Gideon and Restoration Angel, the second match took 45 min, since he was thragtusking like crazy and was killing off my Reckoners with abrupt decay, but eventually I got a Gideon, Tamiyo, and Reckoner on the field with Blasphemous Act in hand and eventually got the game from there after he exhausted his Unburial Rites.
Sideboard: -1 Izzet charm -1 harvest pyre -1 Snapcaster Mage -2 Azorius Charm......+2 Tormod's Crypt +2 Oblivion Ring +1 Supreme Verdict.
Match 2: American Flash, 2-0
-This player was running the original american flash version with runechanter's pike. I dont really remember well what happened in this match up to lead me to win, but I remember Gideon, boros reckoner, and restoration angel winning me the 1st game, then Gideon and Thundermaw Hellkite got me the second game. I was expecting this matchup to be really long and grindy but both games took less than 40 minutes.
Sideboard: -2 Azorius Charm -1 Izzet charm -2 Searing Spear -1 Boros Reckoner, -1 Supreme Verdict......+4 Geist of Saint Traft +1 Counterflux +2 Dispel.
Match 3: Domri Gruul, 2-1...Edited it from jund aggro because now that I think about it, there was no black, I just assumed it was jund since I saw Burning Tree, boar, E1, and Rampager.
-I lost the first game, then won the next 2. Not really much to say here, In the 2nd I tried to prevent as much damage as possible and once I cleared the field, dropped Gideon and Restoration angel and won from there in one match. There was a Domri Rade dropped at one point but it didnt really do much. Third Match my opponent got mana stuck at 3 and I just eventually killed him with Boros Reckoner, Snapcaster mage, and blasphemous act once he had some dudes on the field again. Boros Reckoner is really good.
Sideboard:-2 Boros Charm, -1 Tamiyo, -2 Dissipate....+2 Oblivion Ring +2 Pillar of Flame, +1 Supreme Verdict
Match 4: Jund Aggro, 2-1
-I won the first game this time and then lost the second. first match had a buttload of removal/stall and used gideon to attack when the field is cleared. I lost second game due to playing Gideon with 7 counters with 8 life left when he had a 2/2 experiment one and a 3/3 mogg flunkie. He then played a falkenrath aristocrat and killed me. I had a supreme verdict in hand, but I wasnt expecting artistocrat to come and thought I could live one more turn then turn the game around. Dont remember third game, but I remember me winning with a Thundermaw Hellkite+Slayers' Stronghold, doing damage while keeping a solid defense against aggro creatures.
Sideboard:-2 Boros Charm, -1 Tamiyo, -2 Dissipate....+2 Oblivion Ring +2 Pillar of Flame, +1 Supreme Verdict
Match 5: American Midrange (Assemble the Legion version) 2-1
-Even though I was the only undefeated at this point, I guess I still had to win in order to seal my 1st place spot because there were a good amount of x-1s still. But anyways, 1st game, I got the opponent down to 12 with snapcaster and boros charm. Back and forth for a few turns until he got restoration angel and tapped out for Niv Mizzet Dracogenius on the field. But I also had a Boros reckoner on the field with Blasphemous Act in hand and had exactly 6 mana to use next turn and ended the game there. Second game I had 2 lands a geist and 2 boros reckoners with a think twice, so chances of getting a third land were decent since I was on the draw. But nope got stuck on 2 mana for however many turns to the point where my opponent was casting sphinx's revelations left and right. I couldnt have asked for a better third game, I had all the sufficient counters and removal when needed and was able to get gideon and restoration angel out. From there, kept my opponent at bay and eventually everything worked out. He did get Assemble the legion out, but by then my Gideon was already out and the tokens were only helping Gideon to buff up more. I was able to overload mizzium mortars and the game ended a turn or 2 later.
Sideboard: -2 Azorius Charm -1 Izzet charm -2 Searing Spear -1 Boros Reckoner, -1 Supreme Verdict,-1 Essence Scatter......+4 Geist of Saint Traft +1 Counterflux +2 Dispel, +1 Oblivion Ring.
Closing notes:
-Today I was thinking about switching to a more aggro version of uwr, but I decided to give my most current build a try since I did practice with it and it exceeded my expectations in terms of efficiency and time. My longest match was probably against the junk rites deck. I've been considering this build for the tournament next week in chicago 3/30. But wanted to be sure before I changed decks to a more aggro version.
-Sorry I couldn't explain more in detail on the matches but, I was pretty out of it at the time and just played as the game went on. I was readily prepared for Junk Rites since I've had trouble with it in the past with it and even made a proxy deck just to practice against. I sort of wanted to face at least 1 Jund midrange to see how redirect would work, but cant complain since I faced 2 Jund/gruul aggro decks which are being played just as much. I also like playing aggro since it's usually just creature vs removal in the beginning, but once you get through their mob of creatures and get board control back, you can start making some big plays and just take the game from there. I hate playing against blue, its so hard to find the right time to cast sphinx's revelation later in the game. But I was especially pleased with my performance against both American midrange decks. This was the match up I was most curious about since I've never had a mirror match till today, but everything just worked out the way I wanted it.
-Gideon is working really well for me, I only run 2, but he was there whenever I needed or wanted him. I may even run 3 just because he puts indirect pressure on the opponent and can really bring the damage in, but I probably wont do that unless I plan to make the deck more around him. Only thing that really took care of Gideon was Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere. I had boros charm for dreadbore. Junk Rites and the aggro decks definitely did not expect to see it, thus did not know how to deal with it. Exile all permanents ability? Never had to use it yet and dont plan to unless Im in a desperate situation where Ill lose if I dont. Overall Gideon has been good against all my match ups today and probably was the reason for 50-60% of my wins.
-I was running 4 Augurs in my original build, but hey eventually got taken over by Boros Reckoner. I also dont like them early in the game since they tend to mana screw me sometimes, but I do like them later in the game when I need to refill my hand with answers. But asides from that, I dont see too much benefit from running him since I have a good amount of planeswalkers and creatures in the deck.
-As for changes, I may add 1-2 Angel of Serenity, 1-3 Assemble the Legion, and maybe 1 more Boros charm in side. Probably will take out 1 Boros Reckoner for 1 Angel of Serenity, but as for the others, Im not sure what to take out. I might also take out the pillars for annihilating Fire since there are a lot of thragtusk/angel of serenity/rites shenanigans running around. I won't let them keep hiding behind Thragtusk just to bring it back to life. I've been taking a break from jace, memory adept, even though he's been favorite planeswalker since m12, just because everyone is prepared for him now. Also been considering Blind obedience, aetherize, and unsummon, but I might save that for my other deck idea.
Rght now is the time for innovation, and cards that may not seem so good theoretically can bring decks to their knees unexpectedly. Venturing into new territory is the main reason I got back into magic 2 months ago after a 1.5 year break. So many deck combinations and possibilities are out there, but people dont wanna put money into a deck thats not guaranteed to put up a challenge in a tournament setting. I was always a UWR or Bant player before I quit, and am really happy that I chose the right deck. I feel like the element of surprise is the best strategy in this game. The best part of playing this game is playing "bad" cards and making them good. But thanks for reading through my ramblings and hope that I provided some sort of incite.
Standard //Modern
WU Control
RG Aggro
RU Splinter Twin
4x Hollowed Fountain
3x Glacial Fortress
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Steam Vents
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Clifftop Retreat
3x Sulfur Falls
1x Plain
Creatures - 6
2x Augur of Bolas
1x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
3x Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers - 5
2x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Chandra, the Firebrand
3x Azorius Charm
3x Izzet Charm
3x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Aurelia's Fury
3x Supreme Verdict
2x Terminus
1x Assemble the Legion
1x Temporal Mastery
2x Entreat the Angels
1x Counterflux
1x Dissapate
2x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Jace, Memory Adept
1x Gideon, Champion of Justice
1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
2x Witchbane Orb
2x Detention Sphere
1x Terminus
1x Blind Obedience
1x Psychic Spiral
1x Nevermore
1x Curse of Echoes
Results:
Round 1 (1-2) - Bant Midrange
After first game, opponent sided in a lot of counters which wrecked me
Round 2 (0-2) - American Control
Opponent kept countering every miracle I had; didn't get damage through
Round 3 (2-0) - Boros Battalion
Supreme Verdict and Terminus wrecked the opponent and was able to pull off Chandra's ultimate.
Overall, the deck seems good against creature based decks but very bad against control or reanimators. Again, help would be appreciated.
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Restoration Angel
1 Aurelia, the War leader
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Azorius Charm
3 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Izzet Charm
2 Counterflux
3 Think Twice
1 Rewind
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
3 Rest in Peace
4 Izzet Staticaster
2 Negate
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Supreme Verdict
R1: Junk Reanimator *(1-5: 2)
Game 1: Counter everything, and kill him with Restoration Angels, plus Aurelia, the Warleader.
-4 Augur of Bolas, -3 Snapcaster Mage, -1 Pillar of Flame, -2 Think Twice, -1 Cavern of Souls, -1 Counterflux
+4 Izzet Staticaster, +3 Rest in Peace, +2 Jace, Memory Adept, +2 Supreme Verdict, +1 Negate
Game 2: He mulls to 5, and I open with staticaster, 2 restos, and land. The game is still embarrassingly long, despite me not stumbling and drawing a million cards.
(2-0)
R2: Junk Midrange (1-5: 1)
Game 1: Counter everything relevant, and win with Aurelia, and 2 Restos.
-4 Augur of Bolas, -1 Counterflux, -1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Supreme Verdict, +2 Negate, +2 Izzet Staticaster
Game 2: He curves out on the play, and I can’t deal with multiple thragtusks, loxodon smiter, etc.
- 1 Negate
+1 Counterflux
Game 3: Mill him out with Jace.
(2-1)
R3: Esper Spirits (1-5: 1.5)
Game 1: Kill him with more Revelations and Aurelia.
-4 Augur, -2 Pillar, -1 Searing Spear, -1 Rewind
+3 Izzet Staticaster, +1 Jace, Memory Adept,+2 Supreme Verdict, +2 Negate
Game 2: He has more counters, and kills me with Obzedat.
-1 Staticaster (His only token generation was lingering souls, and moorland haunt)
+1 Rewind.
Game 3: Mull to 6, and get stuck on two land for a couple turns, but draw out of it. Jace ultimate ftw.
(2-1)
R4: Bant Hexproof (1-5: 2)
Game 1: Opponent keeps a sketchy hand, and I azorius charm his strangleroot geist about 3 times, each time getting rid of an enchantment.
-1 Counterflux, - 3 Think Twice, -1 Aurelia, the Warleader, -1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Negate, +2 Supreme Verdict, +2 Izzet Staticaster
Game 2: Can’t find the verdict in time to deal with Caverned Geist of St Traft, even though I baited out the rootborn defense earlier on the first geist.
+1 Counterflux,
-1 Snapcaster Mage (He showed me Rest in Peace)
Game 3: Caverned Geist of St Traft, plus rancor, ethereal armor, spectral flight, and me without a verdict.
(1-2)
I'm considering changing the 4rth Staticaster to one of these possible cards:
-Syncopate
-Rolling Temblor
-Dispel
*(Skill Level, scale of 1-5)
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Restoration Angel
2 Aurelia, the Warleader
Planeswalker
3 Ral Zarek
Instants/Sorceries
2 Turn // Burn
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Azorius Charm
3 Unsummon
2 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
3 Syncopate
1 Rewind
2 Slayers' Stronghold
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Boros Charm
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Purify the Grave
2 Clone
1 Warleaders Helix
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Unsummon
2 Curse of Echoes
1 Zealous Conscripts
I was banking on buying 3 Geists for my sideboard before the tournament, but they were sold out which resulted in my sideboard being jacked.
Game 1 - Aristocrats 0-2
My inexperience lost me this game. I had no idea what the deck plays, what are its win conditions, I knew nothing. Counter spelled the wrong things and lost bad. Game 2 I got close to beating him, but he top decks a caverns and plays Obzedat.
Game 2 - American Geists 2-1
G1: First game I out raced his Geists with Slayers' Stronghold-Resto and boros reckoner to finish with Aurelia.
G2: Out raced by Geists
G3: Instead of rushing Reckoner, I saved mana to counter spell geists than won with slayer's-Resto
Match 3 - Jund 2-1 (Most fun matches of the day)
G1: Controlled board with Counterspells and unsummons with me only having a Ral Zarek. Throw out Aurelia, -7 on Ral for two extra turns with Slayers' Stronghold. GG.
G2: He resolves a Deadbridge Chant and gets 2 Thrags and a Sire, than takes my Aurelia. GG
G3: Counterspells until turn 6 with two Aurelia's in hand. First one swings for 6, than he kills it on his turn. Bring in the second one and he scoops.
Match 4 - Bant Hexproof 2-1
G1: I keep land open to counterspell Invisible stalker and keep unsummoning/Azorius charming his loxodon smiter while I swing with resto and reckoner.
G2: No counter spells He does his hexproof thing for a quick win
G3: Counterspell his Geist, ride to victory on Aurelia with counterspells/unsummon(loxodon).
Match 5 - Sigh, Junk Reanimator 0-2
G1: Only drew a couple creatures and no Aurelia, counterspelled the reanimator card, so he beats me with his cavern/angels. I held on for a bit, but was simply overwhelmed. Also, losing land to acidic slime is no fun. No fun at all.
G2: Use my sideboard for the first time all day and bring in clones. He actually took out his reanimator cards because I counterspelled all of them the first game. I have to mulligan down to 5 because of no land, than to have an extremely slow start as I couldn't even drawn any land. Basically was overwhelmed with thrags, sin collectors, and resto's. I still fought hard and gave him a match as we drew a large crowd. Man, I wish I could of beat him.
All in all I had a blast and learned a ton. I really wish I could of bought those Geists as I feel I would of won against the Aristocrats and the reanimator decks. Is there any type of general strategy against those decks or no?
Allstars of the day:
Aurelia
Syncopate
Unsummon
Slayers' Stronghold
Honorable Mention:
Reckoner
Turn/Burn(mostly turn)
My friend plays aristocrats and i can tell you that Izzet Staticaster is just ridiculous against them.. you can ping their spirits, aristocrats, knight of infamys, champions, travelers. It just crushes them.
Against reanimator clone is really nice, staticaster can erase their dorks, you really just have to keep them off unburial rites [insert gy hate or counterspell here]
I just wanted to throw out some advice mainly because you said you struggled with aristocrat and my experience has showed that staticaster just makes the aristocrat player flip tables and get angry. It's funny when they slaughter games them and you just pummel them with geist :P.
Thanks! I will throw in 2-3 in my sideboard for Tuesday night. I just ordered my Geists from Amazon, so hopefully they come in before FNM.
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Restoration Angel
2 Aurelia, the Warleader
Planeswalker
3 Ral Zarek
Instants/Sorceries
2 Turn // Burn
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Azorius Charm
3 Unsummon
2 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
3 Syncopate
1 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Slayers' Stronghold
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Clifftop Retreat
3 Boros Charm
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Purify the Grave
1 Clone
3 Geists of Saint Traft
2 Curse of Echoes
1 Zealous Conscripts
Once again, I have been defeated by Junk Reanimator. Do any of you guys have any tips on how to deal with junk? I have gotten close to beating it, but I can't, and it's really frustrating.
DCI Rules Advisor
MTGO/Cockatrice: BlakLanner
My YouTube Channel
Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers
Legacy: RBurn
EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders)
Current decklists are posted here
Round 1 VS G/R Aggro (0-2)
G1: I keep a hand of Geist, Resto, Thundermaw, and 4 lands, two of which are shocks. Seems like a good hand to keep as long as I draw some spells. He won the die roll and led off with a Stromkirk Noble. I drew Sacred Foundry and passed. He used his T2 to play an Ash Zealot and swing for 3. I drew another shockland an passed. I ended up drawing nothing but shocklands and with no way to really interact with his board I ended up getting burned out.
G2: I was on the play and kept a hand of Island, Sacred Foundry, Turn/Burn, Boros Reckoner, Geist, Searing Spear and Pillar. I played the foundry and passed. He led with the Noble, which I pillared and then played the Island, drawing another Geist. He played Burning Tree into Flinthoof Boar and passed. I drew an Izzet charm, meaning I had to filter if I wanted to get anywhere. He attacked and played Reckoner, dropping me to 15. I filtered and found Sulfur Falls. I then made the illegal play of casting Reckoner without 3 red or white, which my opponent and I both missed until after the game had ended. He speared it, which led to me killing the Boar and he swung for another 5. I tried one for one removing threats but didn't have enough steam. A better draw would have helped both games, not sure what I could have done differently.
G2 VS Jund Midrange (0-2)
G1: Not a matchup I want to face, I was on the draw again. I kept a mulliganed hand of Boros Charm, Izzet charm, Reckoner, Thundermaw, and 3 lands (after my draw). I was able to get the Reckoner to land with the Thundermaw and apply pressure, but he had Nighthawks MD to stem the attack after he dropped a turn 5 Sire of Insanity, making me discard 2 Boros Charms, a land, and an Izzet Charm. I top decked a Turn//Burn to kill the Sire, but couldn't attack into the board without a way to give Reckoner first strike. He eventually top decked a Liliana to wipe my Thundermaw once he dealt with Reckoner and I lost to an Alpha strike.
G2: Again, a bad draw. On the play I had two lands, Negate, Geist, Spear, and two Snapcasters. I Negated a Farseek after I drew no lands to try and keep him behind, but he drew another and got to four lands. I sat again with no land draws, and he played Liliana to plus 1. I speared the Liliana to 1 EOT, got my third land to play Geist. He had Barter in Blood, then next turn dropped a Ground Seal. It was over after he played Olivia followed up with Thragtusk.
Game 3 VS Naya Blitz (2-0)
I rebounded these draws with some bad luck from my opponents. I kept a great 7 on the draw with Geist, one shock, two dual lands, a spear, snapcaster, and Boros Charm. He led with land and nothing, then I played land. He played a Burning Tree into Experiment one. I played a land and passed. He played Flinthoof Boar but I speared it and went to 17. I got the turn 3 Geist and he couldn't do anything about it, leading to a Boros Charm to the face win.
G2 I had an amazing hand with Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner, Foundry, Retreat, Falls, Spear and Pillar. He played land after mulliganing to 6 and played Experiment One. I played land and passed. He played land and dropped two more experiment ones. I played land and passed. He played Mayor which I speared, attacked me to 16. I played Reckoner and he stalled out with only two lands. I attacked and dropped another Reckoner, eventually winning through infinite life.
G4 VS G/R Aggro (2-0)
I won this one handily - Izzet Charm did a lot of work countering a Bonfire that would have killed my Geist. He mulled to 6 both games and I got Pillar out of the side when it counted.
Reflection:
-Pillar is needed mainboard. I faced 3/4 Aggro decks and lost the first G/R matchup because I didn't have quick interaction.
-All lands must Cast Reckoner; it's terrible to have an island and sit on reckoner in the opening hand.
-Izzet Charm is an all star. It's so versatile at finding threats and answers, making snapcaster better, and countering spells that are relevant like Bonfire.
-Liliana needs more answers. She causes so many problems for this deck.
Based on these results, I have made these changes.
MD
-1 Island
-1 Turn/Burn
+2 Pillar of Flame
SB
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Dispel
Deck is as follows now, with maybe upping to all four Pillars and moving Syncopate to the SB.
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Spells (20)
4 Boros Charm
4 Azorius Charm
4 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Syncopate
2 Izzet Charm
2 Turn//Burn
1 Ral Zarek
Lands (23)
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Steam Vents
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Clone
2 Blasphemous Act
2 Negate
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Dispel
1 Pithing Needle
DCI Rules Advisor
MTGO/Cockatrice: BlakLanner
My YouTube Channel
Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers
Legacy: RBurn
EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders)
Current decklists are posted here
Deck list very similar to Ken Yeoh's list from the Dallas Open, but I run x2 Aetherling main and 2 Jace, AoT and no Tamiyo main.
Round 1 vs. Naya Midrange (1-2)
He was playing Voice, Loxodon, Aurelia, Sigarda, Tusk, Reckoner, Huntmaster and the like. Game 1 I was able to stabilize the board and Assemble the Legion got out of hand for the win. Game 2 we both got to top-decking mode amazingly and he top-decked Aurelia, then Sigarda, while I topped a Land and a Syncopate...yay. Game 3 I threw away. Instead of casting Verdict on his lone Reckoner late game, I cloned it, then his next turn he drops Kessig Run and gets in to me enough to win (I had Aetherling waiting to come out next turn). I played incredibly bad Game 3. This match was winnable to say the least.
Round 2 vs. Bant Control (2-1)
Aetherling war! Game 1 Assemble the Legion took care of business and I easily handled his 3 Thragtusks (Turn/Burn you are awesome). Game 2 he got Aetherling online first, and I was a turn behind. Game 3, he again got Aetherling online first, BUT HE PLAYED IT WITH 6 LANDS! Hello, Supreme Verdict and next turn my own Aetherling. He made a big gamble playing it w/ no Blue left open...especially when by Game 3, he should know I have a few cards that can get rid of him. Game 3, I also had a Jace, Memory Adept in from the SB decking him at this point, too.
Round 3 vs. RDW (2-1)
He had an incredible opening hand and it was over by Turn 4. My starting hand had 2 lands w/ some good spells, which is typically okay, but not fast enough for this one. In goes 2 Izzet Staticaster, SB in my 4th Pillar, extra Terminus. Game 2, Turn 4 Verdict took care of business and I answered him 1 for 1 until Aetherling hit the field. Game 3 was much of the same. Verdict turn 4, Assemble turn 5, chump block for a bit, answer 1-for-1 until Assemble got too big. He had to Mulligan to 5 Game 3 and had a pretty less-than-optimal hand...but that's Magic for you.
Round 4 vs. RG Aggro (2-1)
Really, this match-up was almost a copy of the previous round. He won Game 1 very quickly, and Games 2 and 3 went my way. Early Pillars, Spears, Azorius Charms helped me get to the mid-game and he was top-decking before long which this deck obviously loves. He conceded the moment Aetherling resolved in Game 3.
All-in-all a good day. Jace, AoT was awesome as usual. The 1st match was on me as I likely should've won. Surprised I didn't see Jund or Reanimator as that's all I've seen in the 2-man's lately.
No real changes to the deck. I run 5 counters main (2 Dissipate, 1 Essence Scatter, 2 Syncopate) and I am wondering if going to 4 would be better. Although, counterspells were quite good for me during this tournament.
I have this deck in "real life", too...and I run 4 Geist of Saint Traft in my sideboard (which would've been awesome in those first 2 matches) but I do not want to spend $100 on them for MTGO, too...woe is me.
I still think this deck has game against most of what's out there. And it's pretty customizable as well to suit certain styles.
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MTGO/Cockatrice: BlakLanner
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Modern: RWGBurn, GRWUBSlivers
Legacy: RBurn
EDH: RWGUBSliver Overlord, UWGeist of Saint Traft (Tiny Leaders)
Current decklists are posted here
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Restoration Angel
3 Augur of Bolas
1 Rewind
2 Syncopate
2 Counterflux
2 Turn // Burn
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Warleaders Helix
4 Pillar of Flame
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Think Twice
2 Island
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Clifftop Retreat
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Steam Vents
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Clone
1 Warleaders Helix
2 Dispel
2 Renouce the Guilds
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Suprme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
Round 1 - vs Esper Mill Control: 2-1
Game 1: Managed to ride a Resto + Augur to victory, while denying him putting anything down on board.
Game 2: Hit all his land drops and managed to keep me from getting any real threats down and milled me.
Game 3: Was a bit of a long game, but again managed to get some threats down and keep them there. Him drawing into a ton of lands didn't help.
Round 2 - vs GW Agro: 2-0
Wasn't an exciting game, they guy was rather new, so not going to go into detail
Round 3 - vs 4C Reanimator: 2-1
Game 1: He never pulled a black land and I did a lot of damage with two Augurs and eventually a resto
Game 2: He managed to win, can't remember how tho, think I just never got the answers
Game 3: Got some early presure and denied him playing anything while he dug for a cavern.
Round 4 - Bg Control: 2-1
Game 1: I resolved a Resto and then protected it from a removal spell early. He never drew another spell and I denied him any thing that mattered.
Game 2: He was drawing all his threats and eventually one stuck that I couldn't get rid off killed me.
Gmae 3: Was a close affair, he resolved a lilly and took me ages to get rid of her as she was wrecking my hand and he had appetite for brains and duress, but I still managed to pull through a victory when I top decked a dragon.
Round 5 - Naya Ramp: 2-0
Game 1: He resolved a bunch of dorks very early and then played a Wolfir Silverheart on a dork. I bounced the dork, then the wolfir three turns in a row and really wrecked his tempo. I got a angel down and started chipping away and got there.
Game 2: I got some threats down and he managed to resolve a single wolfir, I denied everything else. We traded blows very closely, but I managed to put some blocks in front of his threat while he never could me.
Edit: Sorry I had the wrong link, this should be the right one. But if still doesnt work, you can access it through my blog by clicking the number next to blog entries.
Standard //Modern
WU Control
RG Aggro
RU Splinter Twin
Anyway, I ran the following list:
4 Restoration Angel
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Counterflux
1 Dissipate
1 Rewind
2 Syncopate
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Think Twice
4 Azorius Charm
1 Turn // Burn
2 Warleader's Helix
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Dispel
1 Negate
2 Celestial Flare
1 Turn // Burn
I was horribly hungover, I'm still not sure how I was even able to get up in time managed walking around, the first 3 rounds I was a zombie, which also resulted in my first round loss, where I kept a bad hand vs a agro deck and got punished, where I'm pretty sure I could have beaten the deck. My next loss was the last round before top 8 vs Jund. I got a bit cocky in the 2nd game and made a play mistake, which cost me that game, resulting in us going to a 3rd game, where I drew one too many lands in a row and ran out of gas. Ended up going 5-2 and placed 10th. Only one 5-2 made it into top 8, there should have been 3, but 2 of the 4-1 players decided to take a sneaky ID. If more than 2 guys decided to ID, then there would have been a chance some of them didn't make top 8, so it looked like we all had to play, so they took a huge risk, but it paid off. Anyway, I was really happy with my play throughout the day, I felt I played mostly solid (bar the bad keep in the 2nd round) and the deck seems very solid. I would change up the side board though. I never once used the izzet staticasters and I'm not sure I really need them. Celestial Flare is amazing vs Bant Hexproof, I want to bump it up to 3 slots it's that important. Want to drop a dispel for another negate, which I felt I needed more of vs Jund. My deck might look like this going forward:
4 Restoration Angel
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Counterflux
1 Rewind
2 Syncopate
1 Izzet Charm
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Think Twice
4 Azorius Charm
1 Turn // Burn
2 Warleader's Helix
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Detention Sphere
1 Dispel
2 Negate
3 Celestial Flare
1 Turn // Burn
1 Pillar of Flame
2x Boros Charm
1x Burn at the Stake
3x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x Guttersnipe
4x Izzet Charm
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
4x Pillar of Flame
2x Renounce the Guilds
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Think Twice
2x Turn // Burn
2x Warleader's Helix
4x Young Pyromancer
1x Aurelia's Fury
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Guttersnipe
2x Melek, Izzet Paragon
1x Past in Flames
1x Pithing Needle
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Searing Spear
2x Shock
1x Silence
2x Wear // Tear
I don't have his land setup but I would imagine it to be:
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Sulfur Falls
3x Glacial Fortress
2x Clifftop Retreat
2x Lighthouse
So here's what he had to say about the deck:
"Over the course of 5 rounds, I burned my opponent for the win in every single game, save 1 combo win with Young Pyromancer and Burn at the Stake that came out of nowhere, even from my end.
Young Pyromancer was such a threat whenever I played it that it ate removal like a champ every single time. I love the idea of comboing with Battle Hymn, but realistically, it just won't happen, so I'm likely to swap the Young Pyromancers, Battle Hymns, and Burn at the Stake for more utility.
I thought that Renounce the Guilds would be an all-star, but I came up against mono-colored threats all day long. In that meta, it belonged in the sideboard, but I would still main deck it as a general rule.
Chandra did good things all day long - on that note, my biggest regret was not running Melek in the main. I audibled this morning by swapping the Izzet maze-runner for Jace so that I'd have a little more consistency and durability vs. aggro, but the amount of card advantage you can get if he sticks is ridiculous in this style of deck. When Melek is out with Chandra on the table, opponents are terrified. It's a good feeling.
Everything else functioned as anticipated, with the exception that I aimed a lot more burn at the dome than I thought I would. Pillars that I expected to shoot down Voice of Resurgences were usually just 2 points to you.
Cards that never came out of the sideboard: Past in Flames, Guttersnipe, Pithing Needle, Ratchet Bomb, Shock, Searing Spear. I never had an opening to combo, so Past in Flames should probably come out. Taking out the extra Guttersnipe was the right decision for the deck that I tried to run, but refining it to get away from combo, it should go back into the main. Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb were concessions to particular archetypes that I never faced, but I feel comfortable letting them collect dust in the side. Shock and Searing Spear could easily become different cards, but I chose them in case I ended up fighting faster decks and needed more efficient removal. Aurelia's Fury and Silence were both surprisingly effective when I brought them in, giving me an extra turn to set up the win. Bonfire was sadly lackluster, but I'd still try to find a place for it in the 75 until it rotates."
Personally, I don't like Battle Hymn in there. I'd make them additional Renounce the Guilds, or Snapcaster Mage, helix, or sphinx's revelation.
But it sounds like Chandra was doing great things. And that makes me happy. I like the idea of using Melek to know what the top card is, maximizing the value out of chandra.