Vise Bolt

-this is so ankhward

Hello. Welcome to Sean's Shitty Decks. Sorry I died.

For the curious, I stopped writing when I started running the Legacy weekly event at Card Kingdom. I quit that job last week, started a new one Monday, and went directly from the office to the card shop. It won't be easy reclaiming the title of "guy who wins with some seriously stinky decks", but the journey of a thousand steps starts with looking up Black Vise every match.

My very own Greg, courteous as ever, built a "sweet" deck for Monday but passed it off to me in order to commentate on the evening's matches.  Greg is not well known for arriving early, which is why there aren't pictures of the pile (I was sleeving cards well after the first round's pairings were posted). However, as a special one-time courtesy, here is the list I played.

4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
3 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Shrapnel Blast
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt

4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Black Vise
2 Sulfuric Vortex

4 Great Furnace
16 Mountain
SB: 2 Price of Progress
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Sulfuric Vortex
SB: 2 Pyrostatic Pillar
SB: 4 Searing Bloot
SB: 2 Smash to Smithereens

Ankhs? You're welcome.

Round 1: Joel Brown w/ 12-Post

I found myself on camera this round- here's the twitch link while it's alive. I'll expound.

Starting an awkward pattern, my opponent won the roll and went to six. I joined him and started with 0 Black Vise, 3 Goblin Guides, Shrapnel Blast, Lava Spike, Mountain.

Joel led with Forest into Amulet of Vigor, which stressed me out a little. I replied with Goblin Guide and attacked. Trinisphere got revealed, which stressed me out a lot. Joel followed up with a Vesuva, copying Forest and revealing a little more of his plan to me.  The second Guide joins the field, and together with a Lava Spike, drop Joel to 11. The Guides revealed a Glimmerpost and Sylvan Scrying, solidifying my idea of Joel's strategy. He replies with a Glacial Chasm, which was sad. I play out a useless very helpful Black Vise and an extra Mountain, while Joel pays 2 life. then 4. However, even with the aid of a Glimmerpost, he can't pay 6, and Shrapnel Blast gives me enough to one-shot him. (I could have used Fireblast and Lightning Bolt, but Shrapnel Blast is stylin'.)

I boarded out the Ankhs, according to commentary, for Smash to Smithereens and Price of Progress.

Joel, cleverly playing around my Vises, went to six again, and I kept a vanilla Burn opener. His start was Forest, Exploration, Forest, Amulet of Vigor. Black Vise was the first draw. My reply of Goblin Guide showed me yet another Glacial Chasm, but he deployed a Cloudpost (untapped) instead of it. My second attack revealed an Eye of Ugin, and I ran out an Eidolon of the Great Revel. Like a gentleman, my opponent cast a 3-mana spell in the form of Animist's Awakening for 2.. but not before playing the Eye and Glacial Chasm to reduce my Eidolon's effectiveness.  The Awakening landed him a Vesuva (second Cloudpost). I couldn't really attack, but I had drawn a lucky artifact in the form of Great Furnace. Joel fell to 14, which was depressing, then played a Karn Liberated, which was too. Karn slayed my Eidolon of the Great Revel, unlocking my spells, but you can't burn Planeswalkers through a Glacial Chasm. Goblin Guide knocked Karn to 1, revealing a second Animist's Awakening. Cumulative Upkeep brought Joel to 10. That Awakening was for 6 and found a Glimmerpost, bringing him back to 13, while Karn gained 4 and ate a Lightning Bolt from my hand. Joel inadvertently revealed a Wurmcoil Engine as his last card on this turn, thinking Karn ate cards from both players. Goblin Guide put Karn back at exactly 3 while revealing a Sylvan Scrying, and I gave the goblin some company by casting a Black Vise. The upkeep pulled him back down to 7, and Joel deposited the Wurmcoil, maybe missing an opportunity to Scry for a Glimmerpost. He couldn't afford to pay for 4 age counters on his next turn, and there was enough instant-speed burn in my hand to choke a horse and take the match 2-0.

Joel revealed a bunch of Leylines of Sanctity after the match. Guess he wasn't just playing around Black Vise..

Round 2: Time Ston Tim Stone w/ Death and Taxes 

Tim is a Portland local who's in Seattle for business, and we get down to business at Card Kingdom's Legacy night. He also has 8 Vintage decks, y'know, just in case.

My opponents continued their streak of mulliganning on the play versus this stupid Black Vise deck, while I kept a seven with two Goblin Guides. His start was Wasteland into AEther Vial, excuse me, foil Wasteland into foil AEther Vial. I replied with Goblin Guide, revealing a Swords to Plowshares. He tapped out for an Umezawa's Jitte on his second turn, so I hit him with two Goblin Guides and suspended a Rift Bolt. He deposited a Thalia with his Vial and equipped the Jitte, but I just paid the tax on my slow Bolt. Attacking dropped him to 10, and I had Fireblast and two more Bolts to send us to the second game.

I took out the Black Vises on the draw, which convinced me to cut the Shrapnel Blasts as well. The swap was for, I believe, the Smashes, Sulfuric Vortex, and the Searing Bloods.
y
We both got to keep our sevens. HIs had a Leyline of Sanctity. Hm. AEther Vial via a Plains started him off, making a lot of my deck very awkward. Goblin Guide started me off for the fourth game straight, revealing a Swords. While I was updating my notes, he dropped a Cavern, "naming Soldiers", and I looked up to see a Kor Firewalker. Hmm. Despite having the cleverest reply in Ankh of Mishra, he managed to pull this game out. Getting him to 10 was an achievement I'm proud of. 
(Tim, if you're reading this, sorry that I'm glossing over this one.)

After this game, I realized that sideboarding with this deck was very non-trivial. I think I decided on something close to the game 1 build, cutting Ankhs for the Smashes, Price of Progress, and going to 61 cards for the third Vortex.

For the rubber game, my opener contained 2 Mountains and 16 points of direct damage, which I very, very grudgingly sent back.  Fortunately, I'm a master- Tim had drawn another Leyline. My turn 1 had another Goblin Guide, revealing a Phyrexian Revoker. Tim returned with another AEther Vial. The second attack showed a Batterskull, and my only followup was a Great Furnace. Wasteland hit the field for Tim, and I tried not to look nervously at it, since the only playable card left in my hand was a Sulfuric Vortex. Luckily, he tapped out to play an Umezawa's Jitte. Attacking with Goblin Guide revealed a second Revoker, with the Sulfuric Vortex right behind it.  Tim used the Vial to summon Thalia and equipped it with his Jitte, but that just gave me an out for a Chain Lightning in my hand and an opportunity to cast a Black Vise. Tim, light on lands, still had 5 cards in hand, and could only duplicate his last turn's play with the inferior Phyrexian Revoker. I attacked into it, giving him a land and two charge counters, but with an inability to gain life (and a second Black Vise), Tim was too far behind to catch back up.

Turns out, he had boarded in Disenchants! Man! That would have been really good!

We played another match, some Vintage on camera, and after my draws I can attest to Tim's status as Good Sport #1. I got to exile his Blightsteel Colossus with a Duplicant. Whattaguy.

Round 3: Matt Staver w/ Jund

Good ol' Jund. He won the roll, but got to keep his starter. Bayou and Deathrite Shaman started him off, while I replied with a Very Impressive Black Vise. His Hymn to Tourach got my second and last land from my hand, and the Shaman's attack put me to 19. Luckily, I drew a Great Furnace and got to both kill his Elf with Lightning and summon a Goblin Guide. A second Hymn ran me out of cards, but he didn't have a follow-up permanent. I topdecked an Ankh of Mishra (so ankhward), cast it, and got to see another Deathrite when the Guide swung. He played a 6/7 Tarmogoyf, which qualified as "pretty big". (I didn't mention that he caught an Ankh and a Sulfuric Vortex with his Hymns.) I drew a Rift Bolt and suspended it, trying to fade Lilianas. He swung for 6, I didn't block, and he played the Deathrite from earlier and a Polluted Delta. I happily Bolted the Deathrite, drew a Shrapnel Blast, and attacked him to 10. At the cost of 3 life from my Ankh, Liliana hit the field and killed my Guide. His attack put me at 7, and I cast the Shrapnel Blast and prayed. Unfortunately, I had more Mountains than this place and died to the lethal Goyf.

On the play, I did the unthinkable- cast a Black Vise! Matt went to 18, having mulliganned, then played a Bayou and passed back. Eidolon of the Great Revel hit my side of the field, meeting Matt's Punishing Fire, dropping him to 14 on the turn. Completing the trifecta of Annoying Permanents, I cast a Sulfuric Vortex, but declined to remember the trigger in lieu of updating my notes on the match. It caught a Maelstrom Pulse (the Vortex, not my notes), and I replied with my second Eidolon. I then had to read Kolaghan's Command, which, at the cost of 2 life, destroyed all my non-land permanents. The second Sulfuric Vortex sealed the game up, backed up with some targeted burn. 

I swapped the Vises for the Searing Bloods in the rubber match, convinced they'd be good after game 2.

He kept a six, while my opener was sufficient. Badlands was his only turn 1 play, while I suspended a Rift Bolt. Hymn to Tourach killed an extraneous land and a generic burn spell, and Ankh of Mishra was my follow-up to 3 damage from Rift Bolt. Unafraid, Matt played a land and summoned both Dark Confidant and Deathrite Shaman, and the latter suffered a Searing Blood, bringing life totals to 19-11 in my favor. His Confidant revealed a Badlands, and dealt two damage to my face. Scavenging Ooze joined his field. I played a land, then paid retail for a Rift Bolt, hoping Dark Confidant would do some of my dirty work. On cue, Bloodbraid Elf was revealed, bringing Matt to 7, and he suffered an extra two to play a land and summon the hasty creature. Cascade stopped at a Dark Confidant, and Matt reasonably declined to cast a second win condition for me. I cast an Eidolon of the Great Revel, hoping that the bonus damage from Dark Confidant would swing the game in my favor. Bob revealed a land, and a second Bloodbraid Elf was summoned, tapping Matt out with no benefit- the Punishing Fire revealed from cascade was too risky to cast, in his opinion. Both Elves attacked me down to 6. I drew a Fireblast, but with two Great Furnaces and exactly one Mountain, had to summon a Goblin Guide on blocking duty. Unfortunately, Matt had yet a third Bloodbraid Elf. Casting Goblin Guide had dropped me to 4, and there wasn't a block that prevented 8 damage to my face.

Round 4: Shawn Yu w/ Miracles

Shawn Yu has, historically, lost to Burn. I'm obligated not to say anything else.

I won the roll, and drew a hand of five two-drops (includes Ankh, Eidolon, Sulfuric Vortex) and two lands. Shawn kept his starting seven, and I led a Great Furnace and a hand motion. Shawn, confused, played an Arid Mesa and shipped back. Hoping to bait, I attempted an Ankh of Mishra. The Ankh was met with "what in tarnation", a fetch, a Brainstorm, and a Force of Will. Shawn added a Flooded Strand and passed back to me. I cast an Eidolon, which also met a Force of Will. Brainstorm started Shawn's turn, followed by a land, a fetch, and a Counterbalance. I took that opportunity to field my Sulfuric Vortex, which resolved. My notes actually end here- the game was 20-14 and I got lazy. Sorry! (But I did manage to win that one.)

Some cards got boarded in, including the Pyroblasts.

Shawn led with a Top, followed by my Goblin Guide, revealing an Island. He played a Plains, followed by a confident Brainstorm. Despite having a second Goblin Guide, I attacked directly after drawing, meeting the expected Terminus via Top after a land reveal. An Eidolon resolved, and I passed the turn. Shawn spent a Swords to put the score at 22-16, then played a Ponder (keeping) and a Scalding Tarn. I cast my second Guide, which met a fetch and a miss; my Chain Lightning hit a Flusterstorm. Brainstorm found Shawn a pair of Divining Tops, while Lightning Bolt found Shawn's face post-combat, bringing him to 8. Suspending Rift Bolt tapped me out. A quick Plains then pass made me suspicious, but I attacked anyway into an Entreat the Angels for 3. Despite fighting for a bit, the 3 Angels made short work of my life total.

Between games, Shawn asked "How badly are you going to gloat if you beat me with this terrible burn deck?", and I said, "I'll leave the gloating to Greg, I promise."

Game 3's start couldn't have been better- we both kept 7, and I resolved a Black Vise. Shawn graciously received 3 damage, then played a land and a Top. Ankh of Mishra resolved, and I finally had an answer for everyone who had asked "Why are you playing Vise and Ankh?" Black Vise put my opponent to 15. Brainstorm in the main phase found Shawn a fetchland, but using it dropped him to 10 like it was a Modern tournament. With a hand full of awkward cards, I played a Mountain (ow) and a second Vise. Since he hadn't yet played out his hand, Shawn took a combined two from the Vises, but assembled the Top + Counterbalance combo while dropping his hand size. Playing a land had dropped him to 6. I tapped out to cast Rift Bolt for retail, which resolved, but the lethal Fireblast met a Force of Will, leaving me with an Eidolon of the Great Revel and only a single Mountain to cast it. I

Shawn passed after drawing, and my topdecked Lava Spike met the expected Counterbalance trigger. A Vendilion Clique revealed my awkward strategy to Shawn (draw a second land, cast a 2/2), and he sent my creature to the bottom, replaced by a Lightning Bolt. Over the course of the next 3 turns, the Clique dealt me 9 damage, but its controller was locked out of both playing lands and playing counterspells. With five cards in hand, he cast a Ponder and then Flusterstormed it, escaping the grip of the Vises- but then I just Fireblasted him for lethal. ♣ 

Black Vise is really.. something. It is definitely an artifact to sacrifice to Shrapnel Blast, which I attested to on camera. The presence of that particular Blast reminded me of the Big Red decks from Mirrodin/Kamigawa Standard, and playing a red deck that tried to lock out the opponent. I never actually assembled the combo of Vise / Ankh / Eidolon, but that feels like a Death and Taxes board position more than a Burn deck's stance. Maybe we should have called this Death and Death?

In all seriousness, having the disruptive artifacts really gave this deck some game against the normal control decks, on an axis I've never seen before. Round 4, Game 1 definitely did not feel like playing a burn deck versus a deck with Counterbalance and Terminus- instead, I got to jab at my opponent's defenses before landing a haymaker. 

You're asking a reasonable question- Is this deck good? I don't have a good answer, but..

Until next time, scoreboard.
■

The Cure, part 1

-skyshroud cutter, fall apart; deathrite shaman break my heart
 
 Here's a quick and dirty one for everybody.

there's a dryad arbor in the bottom left

#cutz

might want thoughtseize over duress

top getting cut for sylvan library pdq

uhh, don't ask about keening stone

I went 4-0 tonight (8-0 in games) at Card Kingdom with this list. Many thanks to my sugar daddy Greg / phazonmutant for the borrows of the pimp stuff.

Round 1: Dredge
First and foremost, my opponent was a good sport despite mulling to five in both games.
He led with Tireless Tribe off City of Brass, which got me excited- Tireless Tribe is so old school, he drives a bus with gothic arches in the windows. I considered Duressing him on turn 1, but instead used my Green Sun's Zenith to accelerate. The Tribe put a Grave-Troll in his bin, though his top six cards were unexciting. My Dark Confidant revealed a Deathrite Shaman, which was bad for him, and his Tribe ate a Swords once he revealed a Bridge from Below. Kavu Predator dealt him a lot of damage soon after.

I boarded in the Ooze and Explosives, cutting the Sylvan Safekeeper and a Thoughtseize.

We went to five together, with me to four afterwards. I kept a no lander with Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze, Kavu Predator, and the Cutz, because, well, build me a better 3 card hand.
He had Putrid Imp, I peeled an Invigorate. Well, if he boarded in Firestorm, this is gonna get awkward. Another Grave-Troll found its way into his graveyard, if for just a moment, and he revealed both an Ichorid and a Narcomoeba. Luckily, a Bayou was waiting for me.
On his next turn, after finding another Narcomoeba, he dumped his hand and board to make a 9/9 Troll with me at 16. That wouldn't be enough, as I drew another land and summoned the Ooze and ate his Ichorid. While his 9/9 regenerator was a huge threat, he couldn't deal with the tag-team of graveyard hate and succumbed to an Invigorated Predator.

Round 2: Jeremy w/ Enchantress
Again, I kick myself for having no Reverent Silences.
Jeremy leads with two Wild Growths on his single land, a basic Forest, while I summon a Deathrite Shaman and a Dark Confidant. I Duress him after he plays an Argothian Enchantress, and he reveals a hand of white cards and Carpet of Flowers. I'm bad, so I leave him with Oblivion Ring, Sigil of the Empty Throne, and Solitary Confinement, and he (obviously) draws Serra's Sanctum into Oblivion Ring to axe my fresh Predator. Dark Confidant and the Shaman take him down to 13, and he plays the Sigil, a fresh Serra's Sanctum, Solitary Confinement, and an Elephant Grass. Unfortunately for him, I'm done attacking- the Dark Confidant has drawn me into False Cure and two Cutters, and his Angels had given me a target for my incredible awkward Swords to Plowshares.

I brought in the Enlightened Tutors, an Ethersworn Canonist, Explosives, and the Oblivion Ring. (I was saving the Keening Stone for my inevitable match against Greg, against whom it would have been automatically lethal.)

Jeremy led with a Utopia Sprawl (an Utopia Sprawl? whatever) and I accelerated with one of the three Green Sun's Zenith's in my opener. He had another Utopia Sprawl, and I tutored for and cast my one-of Ethersworn Canonist. He had back-to-back Enchantresses, while I built up my board with a Kavu Predator and Deathrite Shaman. His follow up of Elephant Grass slowed me down, but I paid 4 retail to bash with my pair of 2/2s. When he used his next spell on a second Elephant Grass, I paid 4 again and made a second Deathrite Shaman. His oldest Grass died while he made a Sterling Grove, and I, again, paid 4 to bash with my idiots. He tutored for a Solitary Confinement, which bought him some time, but as you know, Deathrite Shaman neither targets nor deals damage. The pair of them eventually did him in, after I ran out an end-step False Cure just for a spell for the pair to eat.

Round 3: Chase w/ Reanimator
In game 1, Chase drew, and cast, 4 Hapless Researchers, off of one Underground Sea. I also had kept a one-lander with two one-drops, but Deathrite Shaman is, well, good in this matchup. He dug with Brainstorms and Ponders, but those were just fuel for the Shamans. Kavu Predator may have shown up at one point, but that was just for show.

Chase boarded in roughly 20 cards, it seemed, so I left the Ooze in the board and brought in the Therapies and Oblivion Ring, in case he was going for Show and Tells.
He led with a Careful Study via basic Island, discarding a Jin-Gitaxias. The following options were available to me:
1. Duress him
2. Play Deathrite Shaman
3. Green Sun's for 0

I went for the third option, as I think it has the most game against his range of keeps plus the cards from Careful Study. As it turned out, he Studied again, played a Swamp, then Submerged my Dryad Arbor. Well.
So I played my Duress and Deathrite Shaman, leaving him with a land and a Force of Will. Kavu Predator showed up too, but Deathrite Shaman had already strapped up and put the team on its back.

Round 4: Tanner w/ UR Delver
As part of Team Pizza Bracket™, it's my goal to be done with the tournament by 9:50. The local pizza place does $2 slices at 10pm, and they are huge and delicious, but you gotta get there early to have the best pick.
Anyway, I offered to split and play until it was Pizza Time™. Turns out..
In game 1, I played a Forest, he played an Island. Some basic plays. I made a Dark Confidant, and he responded with a Delver. Bob revealed a fetchland, which I played after a Kavu Predator. He set up his flip with a Brainstorm in his upkeep, then followed up with an aggressive Goblin Guide, which joined the Insect in the red zone. Combat got awkward for him when I killed his Insect with a Swords, then ate his Goblin Guide. Sure, I revealed The Cutter to Dark Confidant, but that and False Cure put him dangerously low on my attack step. Even double Price of Progress wasn't enough to kill me on his last turn.

As for game 2, well, I played turn 1 Deathrite, turn 2 False Cure, Cutter, Cutter, Cutter, Invigorate. Hey, I wouldn't be playing all these bad cards if they didn't work well together!  ♣

Deathrite Shaman might be my favorite card in Legacy.  It's so good.

This deck is a ton of fun to play! Your role is incredibly fluid, and knowing when to jam vs. when to hold Cutters is still something I struggle with, even four tournaments later. 

I continue to avoid decks with both Wasteland and Swords to Plowshares- I bring up this point in next week's article. In fact, I'm working on the write up from the first week I played this deck- featuring some spicy plays, and the back story. A preview:
(r1 against greg, responding to a vendilion clique with false cure, invigorate the clique, swords the clique, giggle uncontrollably)
(beating the guy who had 4 knight of the reliquary in play with 11 lands in his bin)
(losing to a batterskull DESPITE HAVING KAVU PREDATOR IN PLAY)


Until next time, stay hungry. Unless you are eating pizza. Then eat some pizza.
■

BUG Delver

-or, #teammurca

For the foreseeable future, I'll likely be playing “real” decks. (That is, unless our titular degenerate wants to Fedex me something spicy.) In fact, this deck is actually jam-packed with good cards. I hope you don't mind an off-theme post.

Here's the listo. (link)

Two of the Underground Seas belong to my roommate Greg, which he borrowed from his Vintage deck. How do I know this? Well, in a game before the tournament, he played Mox, fetchland, and then I had to unsleeve one of the Seas and hand it to him.

Anyway, pairings are up..

Round 1: David w/ Big Red

I won the roll and lead with a Deathrite Shaman. He responded with City of Traitors and passed the turn. My Hymn to Tourach hit another City of Traitors... and a Worldspine Wurm. (?)

So that was confusing. I had tapped Deathrite for mana, so it got shuffled back in, then I played a Wasteland and passed without killing his City. After playing a Lotus Petal and exiling a Spirit Guide, he ran out a Sneak Attack into my Force of Will. His City got taken out, I played another Wasteland and another Deathrite Shaman, and he didn't get past two mana for the rest of the game. Eventually I killed him with a Tarmogoyf.

The Pierces and a Grip came in at first, but while pile shuffling I realized that my sleeves were sufficiently transparent to read the Insectile Aberrations through them. Nobody had extra checklist cards, so I boarded the Delvers out for Golgari Charms and the extra Liliana. I felt this was an acceptable punishment for having marked cards in the prior game.

A second-turn Blood Moon (rude) off Ancient Tomb got Forced, but a Defense Grid made it to the field. I dug with a Ponder, seeing Deathrite, Krosan Grip, Abrupt Decay. The Shaman hit the table, but he followed up with a Pyromancy. (?)

The Hymn I had been sitting on found his Emrakul and a land, leaving him with one card. It was Worldspine Wurm, obviously, and discarding it to Pyromancy left him with no cards and me at 8. After that, I killed all of his permanents, one at a time, and pinged him to death. rite. Zing.

Round 2: Graham w/ Affinity

He won the roll and started on six. We had played next to each other in the previous round, but I'm not terribly observant- I knew he was playing a deck with Orithopter and Memnite, but that was it. I kept a hand with lots of spells but no creatures, in case he was playing a new-border Cheerios deck. (He wasn't. ☹)

His first turn is a Memnite and a Vault Skirge. An Arcbound Ravager ran into a Force of Will, then my Hymn emptied his hand. My hand continued to have no creatures as the pair of 1/1s brought me down to 12. I ate my graveyard to cast a Tombstalker, but he had peeled well for five turns running. Abrupt Decay and Daze did what they could, but by the time I assembled a defense, he had assembled Etched Champion and Cranial Plating.

For game 2, he assembled a pair of early Vault Skirges off an Ancient Tomb and Springleaf Drum. My opening was much faster, though, with a Deathrite Shaman and early Tarmogoyf. Another Ravager got Forced, but the duplicate the following turn resolved.

I attacked with my squad of two Tarmogoyfs into his two Vault Skirges and Arcbound Ravager. Having audibly verified my Tarmogoyfs' sizes, he blocked both of them and dumped all his permanents onto one of them.. which died Abruptly. RIP.

Hymns had come out for that game, but I brought them back along with two of the Golgari Charms, hoping to mise away the multitude of X/1s his deck features.

We both mulliganned in the final game, and I kept a one-lander with Force, Delver, Underground, Deathrite, Decay, Brainstorm. He led with Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal.. which I Forced, pitching my Delver. You can call that play dubious (and the spectators definitely did), but I felt like I had the soul read. Maybe keeping the Delver was correct. I'm not sure. Regardless, he had a Vault Skirge to start the clock. Tarmogoyf met me in my draw step, and I cast the Deathrite Shaman. He topdecked an Ornithopter, and ran it out along with a Springleaf Drum. I drew Wasteland, and he somehow mananged to guess what I had drawn. 

I think, though I'm not sure, that it's because I picked up his Darksteel Citadel and read the reminder text aloud. 

Anyway, instead of playing the Tarmogoyf, I kept on with the LD plan and blew up his Drum with the Decay from my opener, exiling the fetchland in my graveyard. Tarmogoyf landed as a 2/3 the next turn. I was taken aback when he played Ancient Tomb into Chalice for one, but I was sitting on a Daze and two-drops and wasn't scared. After I drew another Brainstorm (obviously), his Tomb died to Wasteland and Tarmogoyf #2 hit the field. Having sufficiently shut him down, he drained me for one and passed with only Ornithopter to block, sitting at 16. When I draw Abrupt Decay, I go into the tank for a long minute. If kill a creature, I can attack him down to 7, and he'll be dead on board even with the life gain from his flier. It'll be bad if he draws a land, but what two drop can he play that I'm afraid of?

So, I Decay his blocker and put him to 7. His next turn is land into Arcbound Ravager. Well, now this is awkward. I can't attack anymore, but I do peel and cast a Sylvan Library. He follows me with a land and an Etched Champion. My Sylvan feeds me a Decay, which I burn on the Ravager in an attempt to get aggressive. He lets it die with one counter, depositing it onto his Champion, and I battle with my Tarmogoyfs, putting him at 4. Unfortunately, this line leaves me with only Underground and Deathrite Shaman untapped, with Brainstorm in hand stranded by his Chalice. On his next turn, he plays a lethal Cranial Plating, but I do what I can to convince him it's off by 1. After he counts his artifacts, and demonstrates that he is not an idiot, I cast the Brainstorm in a desperation attempt to activate the Force and blue card on top of my deck. He forgets about his Chalice trigger, but claims that I had already let his Plating resolve. I don't really know one way or the other, but I concede anyway while vigorously pointing to his Chalice. 

Round 3: Tanner w/ LoamPox

Our first game is quite drawn out. I assumed he was playing a Pox-type deck, so I keep an opener on the draw with four lands, Ponder, Daze, and Tarmogoyf. He hits me with an Inquisition, which is awkward. I draw a land, cast Ponder, shuffle away some lands, and draw a Delver. He kills my land, I play the Delver, he plays Mox Diamond into Smallpox, I consider suicide, but luckily he doesn't do anything but cast Life from the Loam for a few turns. That gives me the time to topdeck and stick a Tarmogoyf, and his hand is all Sinkholes and Wastelands. I even have the Force in case of another Smallpox. Many lands, wow.

In game 2, he has another Inquisition after I lead with a Delver of Secrets. He strips my Tarmogoyf and sees two Abrupt Decays and two lands. I don't draw anything good, and the Smallpox he plays next turn (discarding Nether Spirit) takes me right out of the game.

The last game is equally interactive- I play a turn 1 Deathrite, Waste his first two lands, and drop an early Tarmogoyf. He plays a Smallpox to set me back, but trading his land for my 1/2 keeps him from developing quickly enough to stop my Goyf. Liliana and another Deathrite put the nail in his coffin.

Round 4: Greg w/ Tin Fins

Greg is playing Tin Fins with Show and Tell maindeck. He wins the roll, and my six-card opener has a card from my sideboard. After my embarrassment fades away, Greg starts with Brainstorm off a Lotus Petal. Then he plays Swamp into Entomb, which immediately dies to my Force. He's sad, then imprints a Griselbrand on a Chrome Mox to Thoughtseize me. Stuck with the blanks on the top of his deck, I have time to develop my lands and resolve a Tarmogoyf. Once he's drawn his two blanks, I topdeck a Hymn and get both a Griselbrand and Emrakul, which blanks both his reanimation spells and the Show and Tells which I imagine must be stranded in his hand. Next turn I summon my own Demon, which meets an eye roll and is lethal.

I board in the Spell Pierces and the Cage for two Decays and two Dazes. It's good to hedge.

He plays a Pithing Needle on turn 1, turning off the Deathrite Shaman in my hand. Tough, but fair. I play a fetch and pass, intending to wait and put the Woodland Druid back later with a Brainstorm. After he plays a Lotus Petal and passes, I crack my fetch. As I have no permanents, he can cast a Lim-Dul's Vault with no fear of the Daze in my hand.  The first five are good enough, and I resolve a Delver and pass. Brainstorm in my upkeep ensures that it flips, and the giant Insect goes to work on his life total. Another land lets him resolve an Entomb soon after, but the Reanimate on his Griselbrand drops him to 3, against my squadron of Insectile Aberration, Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, and Deathrite Shaman. The men of low cost mount an assault, and the blocked one gets Smited. No feeders, please.

♣

Looking back, I'd say this is probably my favorite Delver deck so far this year. (The Naughty Delver deck doesn't count.) If you can stand to play this many good cards, you could do worse than inspiring misery by revealing Hymn to Tourach to a blind Delver flip. Delicious. 

Until next time, keep it tight.
■

Keeper, Vintage for Cash @ Mirkwood (2nd!)

-or, "killing the jace game"

Hi everyone.  It's been a while.

Since this blog has been updated, I've moved across the country- from the gentle hills of the Piedmont to the wintry highlands of Seattle.  For me, that means playing a literal SSD is going to be more challenging. (Luckily, my Demonic Tutor is awfully Shitty.)

But! 

I can still tell you the stories of the card shops and tournaments where I now find myself. 

And if you can overlook the fact that I haven't posted in a year.. Thanks.


In any case, here's what I played today.

also includes 1 toxic deluge

ghetto power, w/e

the board

Having been picked up and driven to the venue by coolguy Matt, who is perennially early, I leisurely wrote up a list and attempted to draw multiple Leyline of the Void with Sharpies. (This was challenging.) Thanks to the TO who printed them out for me.

And getting started with our 14 person tournament, we find..

Round 1: Randy Buehler w/ Burning Oath

 "That guy looks familiar. Actually, he sounds familiar.."
In our first game, Mr. Buehler took 4 mulligans. His only play was a Tolarian Academy. I killed him to death with a poisonous robot. 

Because I'm romantic, I thought he might be playing the mono-blue Belcher deck, so I boarded in my REB and Mindbreak Trap.

In the second game, I kept a loose-ish one with Snapcaster and Misstep, but no Force. That hand didn't last long- he went City of Brass, Mox, Mox, Timetwister.  My new seven featured two Forces, a Time Walk, and two other blue cards with two other lands. 
I recall saying, "I'll keep."

The game continued slowly- I got both of my lands in play, Forcing a draw seven and a Defense Grid as they came up. The game ended when he stuck another Grid and then an Oath of Druids, which let him tutor up a Griselbrand. He only drew seven cards with it, but he had a Burning Wish for Yawgmoth's Will, which was sufficient.

Our final game had a lot of interaction. I mulliganned into Academy, Voltaic Key, Time Vault, Mox Ruby, and Yawgmoth's Will. In order to bluff Mana Drain, I ran out Mox Key Academy, but he is not a coward and cast Windfall on his first turn. I sheepishly discarded my turn 2 win, and drew Red Blast, Mindbreak Trap, Force. (You may have noticed, but I drew pretty well this match.) After laughing at my graveyard, he played additional mana and went for a Timetwister with RU floating. That spell activated my Trap card. His look was of puzzlement, then confusion, and finally frustration as he placed his Timetwister in the graveyard. Since I'm a pedant/judge, I let him know he was off by one zone. 
His RU, unsurprisingly, turned into a Burning Wish which found him a Yawgmoth's Will, then he passed the turn.  Clearly an Ancestral Recall was on top of my deck, followed by a land and a Tinker.  I thought about leaving some mana up, but summoned the robot from my library anyway.
Randy tanked, tanked, then played an Academy, but he couldn't figure out a way to turn his Yawgmoth's Will into anything good. The Windfall in his graveyard wasn't a combo with my hand of two cards, his Timetwister had been cleverly exiled by yours truly, and he died to my Colossus.

Round 2: Lance w/ Control Oath

Lance was a pretty cool dude. He Negated at least 10 Jaces over the day.

In our first game, I kept a hand of Deathrite, Bolt, Jace, and some fast mana. He hit my Deathrite with a Misstep, then countered every other spell I played. After he played an Oath of Druids, I stuck a Jace to deal with his inevitable Griselbrand- but he looped Time Walks for the rest of the game, restocking his deck with Gaea's Blessing and its interaction with Oath of Druids.

He also played a Tenth Edition Island, which made me feel bad.

For the second game, I got an early lead by resolving a turn 1 Recall with Mana Drain up. Then I discarded that lead by Draining an Impulse. Literally no idea what I was doing.  That error was compounded by my Vampiric into Jace, so that I could use up the mana, but he just Negated it and landed an Oath. I had a turn to draw Toxic Deluge, but I didn't, so I died.

Round 3: Trent w/ Dredge

Game 1 was pretty close- I kept a hand with many counterspells, and he didn't play any spells. Neat. My notes have only the phrase "zzz".

For the second, I brought in my eight hate cards. 

Since I'm a sack, my opener in game 2 had a Leyline and a Cage! So lucky!
He goes turn 1 Wispmare, turn 2 Ingot Chewer.
Well, it was real, guys.. It's all up to you, Deathrite Shaman that I topdecked. 
Fortunately, Deathrite Shaman is a hard carry (and I drew another pretty soon after).
The game was actually quite close- he had an Undiscovered Paradise and had found a lot of Bloodghasts in the time it took me to stick some hate. Luckily, he didn't locate any Therapies until I had padded my life total with his graveyard creatures. His library ran out with me at thirty.

I kept another opener with a Leyline and a Cage, but this time with some protection.  He had a Bazaar to open with, but was under hate until I peeled a Demonic Tutor for Wasteland. Jace hit my side of the field, and I ticked it up to 13, leaving him with useless Darkblasts and Wispmares. 
After the Jace ult, I played a second Jace which drew me into 2 Cages. 
We went draw-go, until I could find some way to actually kill him. My next Brainstorm found me two, but time was called the turn after I cast them.  He was at 16, and I had boarded out my Blightsteel Colossus, the lethal Ancestral was in my graveyard with two Cages in play, and my opponent was clearly happy about eking out a draw from the jaws of defeat. I asked for a concession, and after his hearty guffaw, Lance told him that conceding would be a thing that a cool guy would do. Thanks for being a gentleman.

Round 4: Greg w/ #YoungMoney

Greg is my roommate, and so we have played a few games over our lifetimes.  He is playing a sweet Young Pyromancer deck with Gush and Drain, Time Walk, and multiple Regrowths.
In the first game, we each land our marquee creature- his Pyromancer, and a Deathrite for me. His spells count for a lot, unfortunately, and I can't really interact except for a few singletons. I did forget to remove his Gush in response to Regrowth, but the Gush died in his hand- while I died to the nearly unbeatable combo of Young Money and Time Walk. 

I brought in my Mindbreak Trap and Red Blast. 

In game 2, I locked myself with a turn 1 Brainstorm- my opener had access only to blue and red mana, which didn't cast any of my cards besides the Brainstorm. Greg stuck a turn 1 Young Pyromancer.  That early aggression put me perilously low, but a timely Ancestral gave me a City of Brass which let me cast most of the other cards in my hand, starting with a Deathrite Shaman.  Greg had another Pyromancer, prior to a fight over his Ancestral Recall. He had a Force to protect it, at the cost of the Jace in his hand, but I had a Mental Misstep and my Mindbreak Trap to keep his hand under control. The fight gave him a lot of Elementals, but my opener had a Vampiric Tutor which found my singleton Toxic Deluge. The play put me at 10, but annihilated his army and bought me a lot of time.  His next draw step gave him a Library of Alexandria, which made me burn my Demonic Tutor for Wasteland. That was the last of his gas, and with the game relatively locked up, I resolved a Jace. The plan was to kill him eventually with Deathrite Shamans, but he conceded when a spectator told us there were 15 minutes on the clock.

In the final game, he played Library on his first turn. I responded with land, mox, Time Walk, then land into Tinker for Blightsteel. He didn't have a Force, so I was into the playoffs.

Top 4 Rematch: Lance w/ Control Oath

As the only member of my car to make the top 4, I offered a split but was quickly denied. 
Oh well. We know what happens to chop-blockers.

Lance and I played a very, very long match. The first game is a blur for the first few turns. With the knowledge that his deck was about 40% counterspells, I did what I could do keep Oaths off the table and bait out his spells. At one point around turn 6, we fought over an Oath of Druids, and I won the counter war. Assuming that the Jace I was sitting on would be safe, I ran it out and rode it to victory. I think he conceded at 16 after I had Brainstormed about 8 times. 

As for the second game, I kept an opener with a Force and two Missteps, a Bolt, a Cage, and some mana. The Cage landed early, following his Oath of Druids. After roughly five turns of draw-go, I ran out of lands to play and discarded my Bolt to hand size. Subsequently, he cast a Jace into my Force, but he had the Negate to protect his planeswalker. Following that were a few turns of me casting a Jace into a counterspells as he built up his advantage with Brainstorms off his Jace. An eternity of draw steps later, I peeled a Bolt to axe his planeswalker. The fact that it resolved was hardly believable. He used that opening to hit my Cage with a Nature's Claim, which resolved.  His draw step gave him a Ponder, then a Forbidden Orchard. 
Now, to set the stage here- my hand is a Yawgmoth's Will, a Mana Crypt, and a Voltaic Key. It has been like that for many turns now. There's a Tinker in my bin. 
I draw- Time Vault. Is that good?
So I slam the Will, and he can't do anything about that. I run out my Crypt, the Vault, the Key, and in response to untapping my Time Vault, he blows it up with Nature's Claim. There are, in fact, two Missteps in my bin, so I casually take 2 to protect my Vault, but the last two cards in his hand are Red Blasts. I'm blown away.. but eventually realize that there's a Mana Drain down there too.

Finals Rematch: Randy Buehler w/ Burning Oath

Randy and I set up a prize split, and, to be honest, I kind of check out. There was a clever play where I hit his turn 1 Dark Ritual with a Misstep, keeping him from casting turn 1 Necro, but I do a bunch of stupid things and get killed to death. Game 2 is the same. Sorry I couldn't fight harder, Mr. Buehler!
♣

I have to say, I'm really enjoying Vintage. It's hard, but really rewards the probabilistic thought processes that I enjoy. Also you can keep no landers. 

As for the deck, well, it was pretty sweet. Vault+Key decks seem very strong, at least on paper, and every single card in the deck, including the 1 maindeck Toxic Deluge, really pulled its weight. I'd have a hard time cutting anything besides the Ancient Grudge, but our meta doesn't have a lot of Shops decks.

We hope you enjoyed this little write-up. If you're in the Seattle area, come join us on Sundays for the league!

And until next time, stay broken.
■

Bant Aggro

-or, return of shitty decks

Sorry for the wait, y'all. The holidays were quite a season for me, with Wednesdays usually being my only day off. Plus we were getting ready for Denver, which meant a lot of storming. Not wanting to slowroll my opponents as I was spelling them out, I figured it best to wait until after the GP.

(The GP went poorly for me, if you didn't know already.)

So, anyway, now we're back and ready to have to look up cards as we're casting them!

This week, Sean gave me a reasonable Bant deck with Brainstorm and Tarmogoyfs. I almost didn't believe it.  I was too flabbergasted to get the list as well. We're sorry.

Plus, this is a free blog!

Round 1: Esper-blade w/ Brian "The Brain" Eason
Having lent Brian cards right before the tournament, I knew he was playing a real deck with real cards.

I kept an opener with two guys and a Jitte, which Brian made me discard via an Inquisition of Kozilek. My Tarmogoyf on turn 2 went farming. I played a Sylvan Library on turn 4, and he raised me with a Mind Sculptor. Seeing an opportunity, I cast a Stoneforge Mystic which found a Sword of Fire and Ice. On his turn, he flashed back his Inquistion via a Snapcaster Mage. Fortunately, I was ready with a Spellstutter Sprite, but he had another Swords to fizzle my faerie's ability. I was done drawing creatures by then, and the combination of Lingering Souls and Jace put me under.

For game 2, I led with a Qasali Pridemage and a Noble Hierarch to put a clock on him. My follow-up of Stoneforge Mystic got Counterspelled (literal counterspell), and he landed a Vendilion Clique to further disrupt my aggressive start. He found a Lingering Souls to keep stalling, though I burned a Detention Sphere to clear the way for my Pridemage. At 4 life, he ran out a Jace with some mana up. Naturally, I cast a Spellstutter Sprite and Enlightened Tutor in his end step, finding a Sword of Fire and Ice. When I attacked with the equipped Sprite, he showed me a Disenchant.
Then he played a Batterskull, then a Jitte, then attacked me and gained some life and I remember him having Engineered Explosives to kill my 3 Hierarchs and Pithing Needle and I think I lost.

Round 2: Jund w/ Andrew
My perennial driver was playing a boring old Jund deck.
He Bolted my turn 1 Hierarch and Thoughtseized my Vendilion Clique, then dropped a Tarmogoyf on turn 3. A Bloodbraid Elf cascaded into Grim Lavamancer, and that was basically it.

In game 2, I learned that Geist of Saint Traft gets the exalted bonus, even if you remember to summon the Angel token! What a fine card. Andrew's life total went down by sevens, starting on turn 3, until he died.

On the play, he had Deathrite Shaman into Wasteland + Jitte. I had started with a Noble Hierarch into Sylvan Library, but the Jitte got equipped to a Tarmogoyf a few turns later. Though I found a Swords to deal with that particular creature, a Dark Confidant came down and buried me soon after.

Round 3: Bye
Here I realized that maybe it was best to wrap it up for the night.
♣

Looking back, this Noble Hierarch + Geist of Saint Traft thing was pretty slick. Maybe there's a deck there? 

Until next time, remember that something's better than nothing!

Knight of the Living Dead

-or, "preboarding"

Just when I thought I was out..

I'll start with the game plan, as laid out to me by Sean.

1. get paired against a white deck
2. play pro-white knights
3. attack and stuff
4. thoughtseize him too? i guess?
5. pizza

 Oh, here's the deck.

can you believe he wasn't starting dark ritual? really!

The original configuration had the fourth Disfigure, an additional Swamp, and 2 more Cabal Therapies. 

There were Dystopias in the board, but I talked Sean into Spinning Darkness instead. If I reveal it to Dark Confidant, so what? I gain three life back! In addition, I was offered a few Dilu Horses.

The shop was sparsely populated again, which was a bummer. Andrew had returned from his back surgery, just in time to let a loud nerd know that his story was not good. The words "shut up, nerd" are some of the sweetest.

Round 1: Arabian Block Constructed w/ JB
JB was playing a "Greatest Hits from 1998" theme deck, complete with Beta Kird Apes and Psionic Blasts. This deck was conceived the prior week at Fellini's, after about half a pitcher and half a pizza, steeped in nostalgia for the days when Ernham Djinn was the best man in town.

In game 1, I led with Ritual into Thoughtseize + Hymn, which left him with land, Birds in play and a Serendib Efreet stuck in his hand. Then I played a 4/5 Tarmogoyf and killed him with it. 

For this and every subsequent game 2, I boarded in the Dilu Horses. 

This was my opener.

pseudo-random

 

 

I might have kept that on the play, but I had images of him playing a Birds (and my subsequent suicide)- instead, I kept five to his seven.  My Thoughtseize got Disrupted.  (JB was polite enough to drop it while I was shuffling, though my brain rudely forgot about that until Thoughtseize was on the stack.)

his keep

Luckily I peeled a Hymn, which made me feel clairvoyant. He played a Kird Ape, which is strong against most of my ground guys, but Knight of Infamy and pump knight have game against that.
Then he cast Earthquake for 1.

Reeling, I cast a Bob which died to Chain Lightning, then a Lilana which died to Psionic Blast. Kird Ape continued its assault, and after it had dealt me ten damage, I drew a Dark Confidant. This was an opportune time for him to draw Time Elemental. I won't lie, Time Elemental didn't scare me at first, but I quickly realized that JB is not the AI from Shandalar, and therefore would not be blocking with the Time Elemental for value.  Bob hooked it up with some extra action, but a Serendib Efreet put the final nail in me before I could mount a counterattack.

I went to five again in the third game, and the first play was me getting his Tropical Island with a Wasteland. (He had played a City of Brass on turn 1, but I declined to hit that.) Knight of Infamy was met with a Brainstorm, and then put him to 16. He fetched next turn, then tapped a City of Brass to play a Serendib Efreet. Attacking wasn't viable, but City of Brass was doing good work on my side. Unfortunately, he played Control Magic on my Knight of Infamy. My notes are clear on this. 

My grip was full of BB cards, and though I drew a second black source eventually, this board put me under.

Those are some nice-lookin' cards, at least.

Round 2: Storm w/ Greg
Greg is my fellow Judge-mat-using-competitor.

I had skillfully drawn the Ritual-Thoughtseize-Hymn combo again, which left him with Brainstorm and Dark Ritual in his hand. I followed that with a Tarmogoyf, and he Brainstormed at the end of my turn. Over the next three turns, I drew Disfigures while he Brainstormed once and played lands. Then, at 5, he cast a third Brainstorm, two Rituals, two LEDs, an Infernal Tutor, blah blah blah, I died.

In came the Dilu Horses, out went the Disfigures.
My single Cabal Therapy made its first appearance in my opener, and he had declined to draw Brainstorms in his opening hand. He had a Therapy of his own, however, which hit the two Tarmogoyfs in my hand, leaving me no action. I did peel a Lilana after he cast a Bob, but he had revealed an Infernal Tutor already. A Ritual and an LED later that turn convinced me I was dead, but he was playing around graveyard hate and only got another Bob. I drew a Confidant of my own, and cast it with Wasteland up. In his upkeep, he revealed an Abrupt Decay, so I cleverly Wasted his Tropical Island to keep him off BG. 

Did you know that Abrupt Decay is an instant?

Anyway, every day is a lesson. He cast Ritual, Petal, Petal, Tendrils when I was at 8. Bob did a lot of work that game.

Round 3: Terrence
Terrence "Top-8" Demby was playing a Modern deck. Cabal Therapy was very good for me this match, as he was playing a suboptimal mix of 4 Cultivate and 0 Kodama's Reach.


Interlude: Cubing
Lukas is a store employee who is my former roommate. He and I share many likes: gambling, drafting, and Carver's Country Kitchen. What better way to enjoy ourselves than doing a Winston draft, best of 5, loser pays for lunch next week? 

he was like, "wait til i cast coalition honor guard!"

I neglected to mention that in Round 1, Game 1, he arrived at the shop with my winnings from last week. Waffle fries, man.
My match with Terrence was as brief as the write-up, so we attemped to get a little drafting in before the fourth round. My memory is spotty regarding the draft, but it was full of white and green aggressive two-drops, Pacifism-effects, and a Moss Kami. So, when he played a fourth-turn Stinging Barrier, I figured my work would be cut out for me. On the right is a scene from game 1. I conceded right after this picture. He would have killed me with Stinging Barrier and the off-color ability of Stormscape Apprentice.

Round 4: Beau
This round started as I was trying to rebuild my deck to not get utterly demolished by Stinging Barrier, no small feat in the pauper cube. Why didn't I put in Flame Slash..

Anyway, Beau is playing a R/G all-basics deck. 
In game 1, he drew the burn side of his deck, excepting a Quirion Dryad which got Disfigured in response to the second counter. I led with a Bob into Knight of Infamy after Thoughtseizing an Isochron Scepter. I played a nonstop sequence of black 2-drops, and that he cast a Fireblast by tapping six lands sums up the game pretty well.

The Dilu Horses came in for the last time.

In game 2, I Thoughtseized him and took a Tarmogoyf, leaving him two Quirion Dryads and two Lightning Bolts. A few turns later, he drew and cast an Isochron Scepter and put one of those Bolts on it. I had declined to bring in Krosan Grips. For a few turns, I was live to draw a Tarmogoyf and kill him with it, but eventually he put a Magma Jet on another Scepter after I had run out all of my smaller guys. Somehow, it felt worse than in the old days, when losing to Fire/Ice on a Scepter was normal. 

I spent a long time sideboarding for this game. There were Null Rods and Krosan Grips I wanted to bring in, as well as Spinning Darkness, and the Disfigures seemed bad, but only if he doesn't draw Dryad.. The Jittes,
3-drop Knight, the Therapy, and a pair of two-drop Knights came out.

My six for the last game had a Krosan Grip, a kill spell, and a guy, which was acceptable. I put on some early pressure, while he sat back on what I assume was a mass of burn spells. Eventually he traded Bolts 1-for-1 with my guys when I dug into his hand with Thoughtseize and a Hymn, and we got to a state where I had no guys save a Dark Confidant, and he had a 1/1 Dryad and a bunch of lands. He topdecked a burn spell to kill my Bob, but I peeled another next turn. His attack next turn would have put me to 4, though, so I blocked expecting to get blown out, but he had drawn another land. My Lilana got burnt to death with a Fireblast, then I drew lands and Rituals until he killed me with a Tarmogoyf.
♣

Looking back, I'd have waited to play this until more Stoneblade decks were in the room- or at least, tried to get the flying pump knight from Coldsnap into the conversation. Really, all the games I won were from the Ritual Duress Hymn combo plus Tarmogoyf. I remember now why Tarmo-rack decks were popular in Standard!

My notes from the cube match are sparse, but he destroyed me with Pristine Talisman. Plus, this isn't a pauper cube blog! What did you expect?


Next week, the return of real decks!

Until then, try to control your volume- especially if your story is bad.
∎