Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[petroleumjelly]

Just came back from Prerelease, placed first (4-0) with Orzhov splashing Red for Aurelia's Fury and Cinder Elemental. I hadn't been there in so long (been almost a half a year) that they convinced me to go again tonight

and

tomorrow. Looks like I'll be playing Orzhov again tonight, but Boros tomorrow for a change of pace.

[petroleumjelly]

Played Orzhov again tonight, went 3-1. Definitely like it -- it has some of the best removal in the format to get you to the mid-game/late-game, and by then you can Extort for the win. Treasury Thrull was best friends with my Death's Approach. <3

Only games I dropped across 8 matches with 3 to Simic (2 of them the match I lost) and 1 to Boros. I should also mention that at the morning tourney, the three people who went 4-0 (our store always only has 4 rounds, so there can be a lot of events through the day) were

all

Orzhov. I don't know the makeup of the winners of the evening tourney, though.

[petroleumjelly]

And went 3-1 with Boros, losing in third round to a Dimir deck of all things (first against the black Primordial that brought back my milled Aurelia, and then to a 2/3 flier that he ciphered with the discard Cipher and the 1-life-1-card-1-permanent Cipher.)

I was far less impressed with Boros than Orzhov; when Boros is

off

it is just

off

. Every single one of my matches went to three games, and often whoever started won. The most interesting match was the Boros mirror I played in the last round by far; lots of stuff to think about.

[petroleumjelly]

I thought I had gotten a handle on drafting Gatecrash, up until I tried drafting Dimir last Saturday night. I think it's the first time I've 0-3'd! I thought my deck was relatively aggressive (fair two-drops with 3 Sprites, 2 Guildmages, and 1 Basilica Screecher + nice suite of removal with a couple Devour Fleshes, 3 Grisly Spectacles, a Dimir Charm), but the decks I faced were as I feared: speedy and lethal! [Lost to an

excellent

Boros deck that won the draft, a mediocre Orzhov build where we only finished one game as opponent played agonizingly slowly, and then to a deck that pumped out a fast Assemble the Legion two games in a row.] I think my deck could have done better if I had managed to draft any Hands of Binding, but I think there were only two at the table and they were apparently drafted by the other players in blue.

On that note, I do think Gatecrash drafting has gotten a bit predictable. Seems like players largely try to draft Boros and/or Orzhov (my favorite being Orzhov), but that makes the combination so overdrafted that it seems like you should be rewarded for going into other colors. So far it has not seemed to be the case, but maybe I just haven't figured out the other guilds as much.

[petroleumjelly]

Have you considered Gyre Sage? I understand wanting to flash in Shambleshark, but I would prefer to have the mana available than the one-time use of Flash. Lyev Skynight also isn't terrible (and I have actually seen somebody with a build like yours play him to fair effect -- it practically always evolves your creatures and it can deal with a problem creature for a turn), and the same can be said for Dungeon Geists as an alternative top to your curve over Resto-Angel (although I would probably prefer Resto in most circumstances).

Against control / Sphinx's Revelation decks you probably want more lasting cards for the sideboard, so you might want to consider a planeswalker of your liking. Also, Rest in Peace is an insane sideboard card, as it stops reanimator, flashback/snapcaster, undying, and morbid/blood artist. Admittedly this works against your Strangleroots and Snapcasters, but sometimes the card itself can beat your opponent, and you can adjust your own deck accordingly through sideboard.

Rapid Hybridization is also an interesting card that I keep wanting to toss into a deck, and it doesn't look like it would be bad in yours (and perhaps it is an alternative to Unsummon, or at least could be a 2/2 split): it can deal with problem creatures on opponent's board, and you can even give yourself a flashy 3/3 at the end of your opponent's turn (by, say, killing your own Strangleroot Geist, targeting your Wolfir Avenger and regenerating it, etc.)

I will note, though, that I avoid playing blue whenever possible, so I am not very versed on the countermagic game that is clearly going on with your deck.

[petroleumjelly]

Ah, true enough; it's indestructible that gets around it. I was going from memory.

[petroleumjelly]

"so I am not very versed on the countermagic game that is clearly going on with your deck."

All three cards worth???

And the negates in your sideboard.

[petroleumjelly]

The

point

is I generally do not play with a mindset of "I need to keep mana up so I can counter X." So while I am generally fine tapping out on my turns, the deck above clearly is not. As such, I cannot determine whether, say, Shambleshark or Gyre Sage is preferable (as Shambleshark and Wolfir Avenger have flash and lets you act like you have countermagic).

Furthermore, how

much

countermagic you are actually running is not really what is relevant: what is relevant is the impression you are trying to give your opponent. Since thestatusquo

does

run countermagic, and has more countermagic in his sideboard, the gameplan might just be "leave mana up whenever possible to at least

threaten

that I have countermagic."

But thanks, guys: rather than comment on any of my suggestions, you basically hone in a single offhand comment I make to caveat that I am probably not fully understanding how you want your deck to operate.

[petroleumjelly]

Played four preleases, because I hate money and I've worked a lot of OT.

1.)

Orzhov on Friday starting at midnight, Golgari secret ally. Rares of note were Crypt Ghast, Abrupt Decay, and Ready / Willing. Favorite synergy was the Moa with Korozda Guildmage and some random creature with defense, although I never managed to get that combination in an

real

round. Pretty much crushed with this deck, not dropping a game and going 4-0.

2.)

I was then convinced to be the eighth player at 5AM -- which was clearly a mistake. Again went with Orzhov, secret ally was Rakdos. I did not get much Orzhov to work with so I tried to go straight Rakdos, and it just did not come together. Most notable thing here was that I got to see (and lose to) Ral Zerek, and the fact that I pulled two of the Lightning Helix knockoffs. Ended up going 1-2.

3.)

Went home, got some sleep, and come back for a third helping on Saturday evening. Orzhov was full, so I (stupidly) picked Selesneya, secret ally Gruul. I would not choose Selesneya again... while my rare was Wayfaring Temple, I had practically no tokens to populate save for the birds I could get from Eyes in the Skies and the centaur from Alive/Well. (And I ended up not playing Wayfaring Temple, though perhaps I should have put it in for beatstick potential). I ended up making a pretty sick Gruul deck (with a Simic Guildgate for Turn/Burn, and a Selesneya Guildgate for Alive/Well). I really like Gruul War Chant. Went 3-0-1, intentionally drawing in the last round. We then played out the games for fun, and I won both games.

4.)

And I went to a final prerelease this afternoon. Again went with Orzhov, and paired with Golgari. My pulls were

sick

: Obzedat, Abrupt Decay, Advent of the Wurm, and Scion of Vitu-Ghazi. (I also pulled Obzedat's Aid, which did not make the deck, though I kept wanting to jam it in; a foil Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, and even a Breeding Pool). Only loss was to a fellow Orzhov player who also pulled Obzedat and dropped him both games against me; even when I dealt with Obzedat in

both

games with my sole Executioner's Swing, he followed it up with a game winning Debt to the Deathless. In the final round I had to play against turn-6 Aurelia two games in a row, but I somehow managed to race her in one game through gaining 26 life via extort and lifelink. I never actually got to play Obzedat in the whole tournament, but I can dream! Went 3-1.

Overall, decently fun.

[petroleumjelly]

Played in three sealed events; it is a very strange-feeling format.

Didn't do terribly well in my first (2-0-2), stomped with the second (4-0), and failed in the third (2-2). I really like the Heroic mechanic if you can get it off. In the event I went 4-0 in, I ended up having

three

Triton Fortune Hunters and

three

Feral Invocations. There were other cards, of course, but the card-drawing theme pretty much let me steamroll decks with card advantage (drawing a card, improving my board, often killing an opponent's creature all at once). I had practically no removal in my 4-0 deck besides combat tricks (again: Heroic), but it worked extremely well and very smoothly. Still, the lack of removal in the format is

very

disturbing. I like having a grip of removal spells. ._.

Monstrosity is, as TSQ suggests,

very

good. The common Asp in particular is a powerhouse -- first it stabilizes the board, and then it dominates the board.

Scry is strong. (Go figure).

Mogis' Marauder might be my favorite uncommon in the set (in the eye of a limited player).

[petroleumjelly]

Congrats, Shanba! Go, go, go!

[petroleumjelly]

Would like thoughts / critiques on a silly standard deck that seems fun:

4 Akroan Crusader
2 Goblin Loyalist
2 Firedrinker Satyr
2 Arena Athlete
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Triton Fortune Hunter
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge

3 Coordinated Assault
4 Triton Tactics
2 Rapid Hyrbidization
3 Magma Jet
1 Lightning Strike
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Hidden Strings
1 Hands of Binding

1 Dragon Mantle
4 Madcap Skills

4 Steam Vents
11 Mountain
5 Island

~

Sideboard probably something like:

2 Electrickery (deal with Master of Waves tokens, etc.)
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Turn / Burn
2 Spell Rupture (seems like it could be surprisingly sweet)
2 Hammer of Purphoros (against control)
2 Skullcrack
1 Pithing Needle
1 Dynacharge (against the -1/-0 Jace; and yes, that is actually an issue for this deck)
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
2 Lightning Strike (particularly against Nightveil Specter)

~~~

Edit: Thinking I might take out both Rapid Hybridizations for the fourth Magma Jet and a second Dragon Mantle. They both seem pretty sweet. Might also take out a Triton Tactics for something, but boy do I love that card. Deck seems fun.

[petroleumjelly]

So, this deck is strange enough that I'm not at all confident in any speculation but, rapid hybridization seems way sweeter at triggering the heroic effects once than mantle. So like, once you've burnt through your other targeted effects or in response to their removal it seems amazing, I don't think cutting all of them can be right, I'd probably be tempted to add more of them. But, again, strange deck, haven't played or seen it be played.

A fair point. Without Rapid Hyrbidization, my deck (as it is) admittedly doesn't really have answers to things like Polukranos (which is clearly quite good against this deck), Master of Waves (pro-red), and who knows what else. Getting a 3/3 in response to removal ain't bad either (or just upgrading one of my own guys with heroic value, getting an instant blocker, etc.)

Another option is Disperse (or possibly Voyage's End for the Scry 1), which can bounce Polukranos before it's monstrous activation can actually occur, or blockers that can't be burned out or I would rather not burn out (like Boros Reckoner). Of course those spells cost 2 mana instead of 1 mana. Scrying in this deck is, I find, incredibly useful -- because it has such a low curve, I can just keep pumping out spell after spell if I can keep the top of my deck where I want it.

Dragon's Mantle is growing on me more and more during my "goldfish" testing; despite only running 20 lands, the deck can really stall for gas and start flooding at times. I am pretty much

never

sad to see a Dragon's Mantle: it costs one mana, triggers heroic, cantrips, and it lets me combat flooding by giving me an efficient mana sink.

I am also semi-interested in Izzet Charm, but I don't like that it only hits non-creature spells (though it can counter a Planeswalker, admittedly, and decks without non-creature spells pretty much run Garruk / Domri Rade / Xenagos).

Finally, Nivmagis Elemental looks really intriguing now that I am looking at it.

If

I am thinking correctly (and

please

correct me if I am wrong), I can cast a cheap instant, get the heroic trigger(s), and if the instant isn't all that great or necessary (of if my opponent just plain tries to counter it), I can exile it to give the Elemental two +1/+1 counters. This can be even more ridiculous if I can get a Cipher spell going (because every time a Ciphered creature connects, the Cipher spell is cast, which can again be exiled to the Elemental). It could actually turn into a real powerhouse and can be cast off of any mana source in the deck.

[petroleumjelly]

Hm, thanks for the advice, all, I shall keep it in mind!

I will note, though, that Triton Tactics actually often increases the clock. First, it keeps the clock ticking (I can save my own creatures from certain types of removal). Second, it can trigger heroic twice (whereas Dynacharge either triggers heroic once or not at all), which can net me extra dudes (Crusaders) or cards (Fortune Hunter). And third, after playing it, the opponent should be short a couple blockers for two of my later attack phases. Dynacharge is definitely something to consider, though.

Also, Purphuros is more relevant than he seems. First, he can pump the team (extra relevant against the -1/-0 Jace). And second, he can give me reach out of nowhere (noting that Crusader and Pyromancer can both generate dudes that all suddenly ping for 2 damage). He is unlikely to be swinging himself, but he is there to push through that last damage in the event the board stalls or I have to start over after a board wipe. The decklist (at least as it was) was built to try to always keep gas on top through scrying (Magma Jet) and card draw (Dragon Mantle, Triton Fortune Hunter).

If I can make to FNM this week I will probably stick with a diverse playlist so I can get a feel for what cards are

actually

good in situations (as opposed to cards I simply

want

to be good). And I am admittedly a sucker for miser one-ofs for the thrill of "this is the

perfect

card for this situation!" feels. Still, I'll see what I can do about that tendency.

[petroleumjelly]

Update:

Turns out tonight was a FNM draft, so I only got to play a couple incidental games with the deck. Doesn't seem to quite work, heh. Played against UW Control, got some slow hands and couldn't close out the game before the Sphinx's Revelations began. And then I played against Monoblack which just had too much lifegain for my deck to handle (Pharika's Cures, Whip of Erebos, Grey Merchants). Still think the deck is fun to play, though I do think I need to run more creatures and less tricks, so I will see what I can do about that.