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Thread: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

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    3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    When Gunslinger Games in Dallas, TX announced they were going to be holding a tournament for Beta Savannah, our group was of course interested (who doesn't love Beta?). After some juggling around of the dates so more people could attend, the tournament ended up being set for 12/03/11. Per Google Maps, the store is about 4 1/2 hours from Houston. Time for a road trip!

    Disclaimer

    All characters appearing in this work are real. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely true.

    ===========================================================

    Part 1: The Kessell Run

    Since the tournament didn't start until 2:00 PM, the plan was to drive up Saturday (12/03) morning, grab lunch somewhere nearby, win the Beta Savannah, celebrate at some infamous adult establishments in Dallas, crash at a hotel, then drive back Sunday.

    We managed to scrounge together 6 players from our local store, Asgard Games, for the trip (Eugene, Drew (DrewliusMaximus), Chris (Metalwalker), Kaider, Thomas (AdmiralArzar), and myself). Eugene, Kaider, and I were in my car, while the other three guys rode in Drew's car.

    I also knew of some other guys from another Houston area store who would be going, so it sounded like we would have a fairly substantial Houston showing at the tournament.

    The ride itself was fairly uneventful. Kaider works the graveyard shift, so he napped most of the trip up which would be broken by sporadic bursts of him waking up and joining in the conversation.

    Things got more interesting when we stopped for a bathroom / gas break at a really seedy Exxon station and Kaider's eye was caught by this:



    Yes, it's what it looks like. Kaider saw the $10 at the end and hilarity began to ensue. While Kaider was dumping quarters into it, the creepy old man from behind the counter wandered up next to him and started cackling and whispering "Put, put, put. Yes, more!" into his ear like some sort of Faustian devil. Now one would think that most people would be put off by this and probably stop at this point, but no, Kaider listened to his devil and kept going. About $5 later, Kaider finally gave up. Eugene, seeing Kaider's quarters teetering on the edge, pulled out a single quarter... and proceeded to freeroll the machine for about 10 minutes.

    Of course, this set Kaider off and we had to drag him away from the machine a few bucks later.

    We got into Dallas at about 12:00. Finding the store was a little daunting as it was tucked away behind a bunch of warehouse loading docks. We were a little worried by the area, but once we got into the store itself, it was actually very well lit and clean inside. The staff were also very courteous and gave us some helpful directions to where we could find somewhere to grab lunch. Drew's car ended up going directly to the hotel and they ended up grabbing lunch over there while our car foraged on our own.

    We ended up going to a tiny Chinese bbq restaurant (you know, where they have the roast duck hanging from hooks in the window) to eat and write up our decklists. I was playing GW Maverick, Eugene was on Sneaky Show, and Kaider on Canadian Thresh (the SCG 4x Snapcaster version). The other guys were playing Imperial Painter (Drew), Steel Stompy (Chris), and High Tide (Thomas). Some delicious bbq pork and duck was had, decklists were written and double/triple checked, then back to the venue we headed.

    The other guys were already there when we arrived and we puttered around with some hot EDH action before the tournament got going. 4 guys from Skirmish Games in Houston were there as well and we caught up with them while waiting.

    Part 2: This is Red Five, I'm going in!

    First of all, props to Gunslinger Games for having a large TV to put the pairings up on. It makes it a lot easier than having someone just put up a little sheet that everyone has to crowd around.

    Here's the list I played:

    // Lands
    1 [LG] Karakas
    1 [IA] Plains (3)
    2 [CHK] Forest (1)
    2 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
    1 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
    4 [A] Savannah
    4 [TE] Wasteland
    4 [ON] Windswept Heath
    1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
    1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
    1 [JGC] Gaea's Cradle

    // Creatures
    1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
    3 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
    4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
    2 [COM] Scavenging Ooze
    4 [COM] Mother of Runes
    1 [MBS] Thrun, the Last Troll
    3 [LE] Glowrider
    1 [TSP] Scryb Ranger

    // Spells
    4 [BRB] Swords to Plowshares
    1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
    4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
    2 [4E] Sylvan Library
    1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 [DS] Sword of Light and Shadow

    // Sideboard
    SB: 2 [TE] Choke
    SB: 3 [CFX] Path to Exile
    SB: 2 [ARE] Enlightened Tutor
    SB: 1 [WL] Aura of Silence
    SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    SB: 2 [8E] Ensnaring Bridge
    SB: 1 [LRW] Thorn of Amethyst
    SB: 2 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
    SB: 1 [DK] Maze of Ith

    Very similar to the stock list. I stole the Gaea's Cradle idea from Rukcus' SCG Las Vegas list. The Cradle has been absolutely amazing, allowing you to play SFM, play equipment, equip it all in the same turn or to go nuts with a Scavenging Ooze for some surprise buttsex.

    Glowriders are there (still not entirely happy with them, but those were the last thing I was testing in the Mindcensor slot) because I expected some combo, but didn't want to have something so specialized as Ethersworn Canonist (which also pumps Tarmogoyf when Canadian Thresh Spell Snares it).

    Sideboard is pretty standard. The Ensnaring Bridges are there because I was expecting some Sneaky Show and it's also fine against Reanimator. The Aura of Silence was there in case of Affinity / Enchantress (which for some reason is sometimes popular in Texas).

    On to the report!

    *I apologize to any opponents if I misremember anything in our games or where you're from. Especially the Dallas guys, when you say you're from one of the nearby little cities that make up the Dallas area, I really have no idea where you're from

    34 Players, 6 rounds of Swiss, cut to T8.

    Round 1 - Swiss (vs Lee McBride)

    Lee seems like a nice enough guy. I think he's a local player? We shuffle up and get down to business. Lee looks to be playing SFM Bant.

    Game 1: Lee is on the play and mulls to 6. I keep my hand of 7 and we get going. Lee opens up with a Tropical Island, Force of Wills, my Mother of Runes, then starts Plowing my dudes, putting him on Bant. According to my notes, my first three life total changes were gaining life from my stuff getting Swords to Plowshared as he plays multiple StP's, then flashes one back with Snapcaster Mage. In fact, over the course of the game, a total of 5 StP's gets used against me (he saw all 4 of his and had the one SCM flashback). I recall wrecking his Knight with the maindeck Bog, then eating his StPs with an Ooze, then landed my own KoTR for the win.

    -3 Glowrider
    -1 Sylvan Library
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith

    Game 2: This is an interesting game as we both get an Ooze out, so our Knights are pretty suppressed. We both get Pridemages out, but I have to use mine to kill his equipment. He eats my Pridemage and while I could have responded with my own Ooze to eat it, I had to keep mana open in case he tried to flash back the StP he had in his yard (he had 3 mana). His Ooze ate at my life total at 4 life chunks until I finally drew an StP to take care of it. I landed a Knight, but he had Jace so I had to spend a couple turns beating the blue planeswalker to death. At around that time, the end of the round was called and neither of us could kill each other in the remaining turns.

    1-0 (1-0-1)

    Round 2 - Swiss (vs Chris Houston)

    Chris is another local player. I -think- he's Ramirez777 on here as well? Interestingly, he's distantly related to Sam Houston, which was funny since he was playing against a Houston player. Chris is playing Blue Zoo.

    Game 1: Chris wins the die roll and immediately mulls to 6. I one-up him and mull to 5. His 6 is pretty good as he leads off with T1 Taiga, Nacatl, T2 Nacatl. I try and stabilize but eventually get overrun by 1 drop 3 power dudes.

    -3 Glowrider
    -1 Sylvan Library
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith

    Game 2: We both keep our seven and the game goes the way these games sometimes do against aggro. He has early beats, but I stabilize, fetch up Sword of Light & Shadow to get out of burn range and finish him with a Knight. I kill him in about T3 of turns, so we end up drawing.

    Ugh, a draw this early on!

    1-0-1 (2-1-2)

    Round 3 - Swiss (vs Tim Gillespie)

    Tim is another Dallas player and this is his very first larger Legacy tournament! He's playing Mono U Merfolk.

    Game 1: Tim wins the die roll and leads off with Mutavault into Aether Vial. I mentally fist pump because I have always thought the best defense against the fish men is not playing islands. Plus, I have Mother in my opener and Tim doesn't have the Force for it. Mutavault beats me up some and I stick a GSZ, X=2 which resolves. Tim reads the Scryb Ranger that I fetch up and grimaces. Lord of Atlantis comes down and when he attacks, I put Tim on having a Dismember. Could he possibly have 2? I take the bait and double block the Lord with Scryb + Mom, then use Mom to give herself Protection from Blue. Tim tries to Dismember her in response and didn't have the second when I untapped her with the Scryb and gave herself Prot Black as well. An Ooze landed for me next turn, ate some dudes, and it was just cleanup from there.

    -3 Glowrider
    -1 Sylvan Library
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith

    Game 2: My T2 Scryb Ranger gets Dismembered and Tim drops a Merrow Reejery, then Kira while I'm tapped out. I get down a Knight, but repeated Lords keeps me on my back foot and I'm about a turn or so behind from stabilizing from the Merfolk onslaught and get crushed under a tide of sushi and scales.

    Game 3: Chris mulls to 6 and has to Force my T1 Mother of Runes. On his T1, he drops a Mutavault, so I go ahead and Wasteland it. He has a second Mutavault and then island and starts chaining Silvergill Adepts, but I stick Gaddock Teeg (I kept him in to stop Forces and Submerge), then a Stoneforge Mystic and he can't deal with Teeg + Jitte that has 4 counters.

    2-0-1 (4-2-2)

    Catching up with the guys, Thomas is 3-0, Drew, Kaider and Eugene are in the middle (Drew played Thomas this round), and Chris is 0-3!!! Matt Cline, another Houston player from Skirmish was also 3-0.

    Round 4 - Swiss (vs Sean Choate)

    Sean is a player from College Station, TX, home of Texas A&M. He and a couple of their guys came up for this as well. Recently, one of our Houston players moved to CS and started working for their local store, Clockwork Games, both as an employee and as a newly minted L1 judge. Sean is playing a Deadguy Ale variant.

    Game 1: I win the die roll and lead off with T1 Mother. Sean doesn't have the StP for her and Thoughtseizes me instead. I start dropping guys and Sean takes some hits from my Knight until he drops a Mirran Crusader. Prot Green seems pretty good against my deck. My Glowrider seems to be doing some work keeping him from casting many spells as he is stuck on 4 lands, but gets double Bob out. I rip a SFM like a champ and through the use of Gaea's Cradle, I vomit forth SFM->Sword of Light and Shadow->Equip on Knight, swing for lethal.

    -1 Gaddock Teeg
    -3 Glowrider
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith

    Game 2: Since he's playing Black, I have to watch out for Perish and make sure I don't walk into it. Sean leads off with a T1 Thoughtseize and I GSZ accelerate into a Dryad Arbor. Sean drops a Sensei's Diving Top and I play Sword of Fire and Ice before he can strip it from my hand. Sean spins the Top, draws, and plays a land. I drop Stoneforge Mystic, fetching Jitte, and equip SoFI to my Arbor. Sean draws and plays Oblivion Ring... on my Stoneforge Mystic? After the game, he told me he brain farted and forgot my Dryad Arbor was a creature. Oops. I drop Jitte, attack in for 5 damage + draw a card, then pass. He spins his Top, plays SFM, getting Batterskull and passes. I equip the Jitte on my Arbor and attack, he blocks with his SFM. He doesn't find an StP in time and my angry Arbor gets there.

    3-0-1 (6-2-2)

    Thomas and Matt Cline are both the only 4-0's and can double draw into the T8. Drew is 3-1 and both Kaider and Eugene are Grizzly Bears.

    One more win and I can draw into the T8. I'm seeded 3rd in rankings going into R5.

    Round 5 - Swiss (vs David Sutherland)

    David is a Dallas player who actually remembers us from when we came up for a Mox Emerald tournament another store in the Dallas area had last year (we took the Mox home with us). David is playing Sneaky Show.

    Game 1: I win the die roll and keep a hand with GSZ, Teeg, Glowrider, StP, Knight, and 2 lands. I lead off with GSZ into Dryad Arbor and pass the turn. David drops an Island and plays Preordain, which tells me he's some sort of combo. I play Teeg and pass the turn. David plays Ancient Tomb, Show & Tell, dropping Emrakul. I drop Knight. On my turn, I fetch up Karakas and bounce the Spaghetti Monster. Once I Waste his Tomb and play Glowrider, David can't come back from there.

    From what I saw, I think he's playing Hive Mind. Luckily, my Hive Mind boarding is very similar to boarding vs Sneaky Show although the Canonist doesn't come in vs Sneaky Show.

    -4 Swords to Plowshares
    -1 Thrun, the Last Troll
    -2 Scavenging Ooze
    -1 Scryb Ranger
    -1 Stoneforge Mystic

    +1 Aura of Silence
    +2 Enlightened Tutor
    +2 Choke
    +1 Ethersworn Canonist
    +1 Thorn of Amethyst
    +2 Ensnaring Bridge

    Game 2: David leads off with Island, Ponder. I open a hand with ETutor, Mother, Knight, GSZ, and play land, go. On his turn, he Ponders again and plays a land. I Etutor for Canonist (since I can GSZ for Pridemage and survive Hive Mind that way). I play Canonist on my turn. On his turn, he Wastelands my Savannah and plays Mox Diamond. At this point, I go 8-0. I GSZ, X=2 on my turn, which gets Forced, with David pitching Progenitus. I see now. I drop a Mother and David Show & Tells, showing in Progenitus to my Knight. David is down to about 1 card in his hand at this time, so I Cradle / SFM vomit forth a SoFI, equip it to my Knight, give my Canonist protection from blue, and swing in for 9 (he was at 17 to my 20). David can only attack with with Progenitus next turn and doesn't have an answer when I attack for lethal next turn.

    4-0-1 (8-2-2)

    Thomas and Matt ID'd this round, Drew is 4-1, so looks like there's going to be a pretty good density of Houston players in the T8.

    Round 6 - Swiss (vs Thomas)

    Standings go up and Thomas, Matt, Drew, and I all can ID into the T8, which we do so.

    4-0-2 (8-2-3)

    The T8 decks end up being:

    Team America
    Imperial Painter
    GW Maverick
    High Tide
    SFM Bant
    Big Zoo
    Blue Zoo
    Aggro Loam

    A good diversity of decks!

    T8 pairings go up and Houston pulls a ChannelFireball and manages to dodge each other in The T8. Matt (Big Zoo) is playing Bant, Drew (Imperial Painter) is playing Aggro Loam (who is Sauce on here), Thomas (High Tide) is paired against Team America, and I'm rematching against Blue Zoo.

    After deck checks and smoke breaks by some, we're onto the T8!

    Round 7 - Top 8 (vs Chris)

    Grudge match vs Blue Zoo!

    Game 1: Chris wins the die roll and leads off with the standard T1 Nacatl. He doesn't have much follow up though and beats me for a few turns while countering a few spells. I land a Knight (2/2), which gets active (I have an untapped Wasteland in play). Chris has an active Lavamancer and Brainstorms, to which I use my Knight in response to grab a fetchland and use the fetch to grow it to a 4/4. Chris finds a Lightning Bolt with his Brainstorm, Bolts my Knight, then tries to shoot it with the Lavamancer. In response, I Wasteland my own land to save the Knight and Chris can't compete with the now massive Knight.

    -2 Pridemage
    -3 Glowrider
    -1 Stoneforge Mystic

    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith
    +2 Choke

    Game 2: I keep an opener of StP, Path to Exile, Knight, Choke, 3 lands. Chris leads off with a T1 Nacatl off of a Tropical Island. I play a land and pass. Chris grows the Nacatl to a 2/2 with a Volcanic Island and attacks. I eat the 2 damage. I try and play Teeg on T2, but he eats a Spell Snare. Chris plays a fetch and attacks for 2 again, then drops a Delver, which I StP. I attempt a Sylvan Library on my turn, but it eats a second Spell Snare. Chris attacks for 2 with Nacatl and plays a Tarmogoyf, which I Path and my memory is correct on how many basics Blue Zoo plays when he doesn't get a land. With him tapping both of his Islands, I pull the trigger on my Choke and it resolves. He fetches a Plateau and attacks me for 3 and I drop my Knight (3/3) with 1 Wasteland untapped. He has 2 Islands tied down by Choke, 1 fetch land, and a Plateau and has to pass the turn. I draw StP, drop SFM (get Jitte), Wasteland his Plateau, and pass the turn back with 1 fetch land untapped. EOT, he Brainstorms and then on his turn, he plays a red land and Chain Lightnings my Knight. I fetch in response and he doesn't have Submerge. He tries to Chain Lightning it again, but in response, I activate my Knight (now a 5/5 with 3 damage on it), grab Wasteland, and Wasteland one of my lands. Knight is now a 7/7 with 3 damage on it when the second Chain Lightning resolves and that's the game.

    5-0-2 (10-2-3)

    Drew beats Aggro Loam, Thomas loses to Team America when he fizzles G3 off of his Time Spiral, and Matt takes a long match vs Bant. Damn you Thomas, for not giving us an all Houston T4!

    Drew vs Team America
    me vs Matt (Big Zoo) in the T4

    Round 8 - Top 4 (vs Matt)

    Matt's a very good player, so I really have to bring my A game for this match.

    Game 1: Remember what I said about bringing my A game? Yeah, we both play terribly. I think we were both just tired and too relaxed at playing someone we know, but man, a caveman couldn't play worse than we did. My Glowrider was wrecking both of us as we both kept trying to play things we couldn't (we kept forgetting about the additional cost). Eventually, Matt gets down an Elspeth and although I get out an active Jitte, he just kills me before I can really go nuts with it.

    -1 Gaddock Teeg
    -3 Glowrider
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith

    Game 2: I get out a fast Thrun with a Jitte. Matt's only mana sources are a Hierarch, Dryad Arbor, and land, which Thrun clears out with his first attack.

    Game 3: I keep a mediocre hand of Mother, Jitte, StP, 4 lands. Matt leads off with T1 Nacatl, T2 Hierarch, Bolt my Mother, T3 Lightning Helix my Dryad Arbor, T4 Elspeth. Yeah. I drew land, Dryad Arbor, land, Scryb Ranger, and died a brutal death.

    5-1-2 (11-3-3)

    Finished 3rd Place, which earned me 11 packs. Matt went on to beat Drew in the finals, so at least Houston took the Savannah home! :)

    Part 3: Return of the Jedi

    We ended up getting out of the tournament at around 11:30 PM or so. Our car made it to the hotel and checked in without any incident, but Drew's car accidentally took the HOV lane and went 20 miles out of the way.

    After everyone gathered together, we went foraging for food and ended up finding a Denny's after much searching. Stories of the tournament were told and cheap breakfast food was had.

    Plans for adult entertainment were dropped due to most of us being old people and couldn't stay awake anymore. Never get old, kids. Stay golden, Pony.

    I was the first one up in the morning, grabbed food at the hotel breakfast, and entertained myself with the mystical power of the iPhone until people woke up. After going through Drew's packs playing Pack Wars, and a minor groping incident in the elevator:



    We headed to:



    for lunch because members of our group were clamoring for it. I've never had it before and it was hyped as "Nirvana in your mouth". I ordered my burger "animal style", which apparently involves secret sauces and voodoo magic.

    This is what I got:



    The burger was alright, but was more like a Purgatory than a Nirvana. Sad times.

    The ride home involved accidents (thankfully not us in them) and of course, being in Texas, the obligatory stop at:



    Cleanest gas station bathrooms you'll ever rest your butt on.

    Everyone made it home safe and sound (unlike our previous Dallas trips which involve multiple illnesses and car accidents).

    Thanks again to Gunslinger Games for running the event and we look forward to your next one!

    Enjoy.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Quote Originally Posted by Esper3k View Post

    Damn you Thomas, for not giving us an all Houston T4!
    Variance is a bitch sometimes :(.

    Quote Originally Posted by Esper3k View Post
    And a minor groping incident in the elevator:


    LOLOLOLOLOL

    Anyways, nice report. There's no point in me writing one now, because you covered everything lol.
    Lord of the Chalice

    Quote Originally Posted by Julian23 View Post
    Since playing against Spiral Tide provides a lot fun for both players is something only someone who's not had sex for quite a while could enjoy, I pull out GW Maverick.
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    Spikes are supposed to enjoy winning by leveraging their talents, but this card can't fetch the most SKILL INTENSIVE card in all of Magic?

    Clearly aimed at Modern plebs, not gonna be a pillar of our format.
    Stompy Discord: https://discord.gg/6cesvkz

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Nice report and gratz on the finish...

    But consider one thing...you played 8 rounds and 6 times you boarded this:

    -1 Gaddock Teeg
    -3 Glowrider
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith


    What does this tell you? XD

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Quote Originally Posted by Philipp802 View Post
    Nice report and gratz on the finish...

    But consider one thing...you played 8 rounds and 6 times you boarded this:

    -1 Gaddock Teeg
    -3 Glowrider
    +3 Path to Exile
    +1 Maze of Ith


    What does this tell you? XD
    Glowrider is bad against aggro? One Library usually came out more often (even though it's super awesome) since most of the decks I was boarding stuff out against run Blue and I wanted to shut off FoW and Submerge.

    I knew Glowrider would be coming out a lot though - it's there just to give me some feeble game against control and combo.

    Again, it's not an optimal card and I'm still looking for something to replace it.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    What dont you like on Aven Mindcensors?

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    They're pretty dead against fetch lands since people tend to use them early. On top of that, for me, they don't do enough against combo. Most combo decks don't actually rely that heavily on tutoring (generally use Brainstorm / Ponder / Preordain to find what they need) so I haven't been very happy with them. Glowriders also tend to be better against control since control decks don't tend to run very many creatures.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Congrats man...take eva green to a tournament and see how it performs.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Quote Originally Posted by Avatar of Shadow View Post
    Congrats man...take eva green to a tournament and see how it performs.
    Still been idly testing lists. Once I'm satisfied with one, I'll take her out for a spin.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Esper3k,
    Great report and congrats on the finish. Also congrats to your team for doing so well. 2 quick questions.
    1) Regarding Aura of Silence, you said you play it against Affinity and Enchantress. Aura's casting cost is WW1, so let's assume it's at best a turn 3 drop. (I realize you could T1 NH, T2 cast if you drew it, but I'm assuming you'll need to Etutor for it). Affinity usually has their hand played out by turn 2/3, so the additional 2 cost isn't really slowing them down and the spot removal probably isn't going to help out either, sans destroying a lone cranial plating. I could see Aura being really good against Enchantress, as they take longer to develop. A turn 3 Aura drop could slow them down a few turns. My question, after all that introduction, is: Why not Serenity? I realize Serenity needs to remain around for a turn - not a problem versus Affinity, but it could be Oblivion Ringed or Sealed away by Enchantress, but it costs 1 less, totally wipes the board and doesn't target (avoiding Sterling Grove). It kills your own equipment, but this is minor and wiping the board versus an Enchantress/Affinity player is GG (plus, you usually don't have any equipment on board this early in the game).
    2) Were you surprised Merfolk left in FOW in games 2 and 3? You said you left in Teeg to stop Submerge and FOW. Stopping Submerge, I understand, but I thought Merfolk teck against GW was to remove FOW? Bring in extra Dismembers, Submerges, Mind Harness, Jitte, GY hate, but remove the FOW's as they don't want to lose card advantage.

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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Quote Originally Posted by Water_Wizard View Post
    Esper3k,
    Great report and congrats on the finish. Also congrats to your team for doing so well. 2 quick questions.
    1) Regarding Aura of Silence, you said you play it against Affinity and Enchantress. Aura's casting cost is WW1, so let's assume it's at best a turn 3 drop. (I realize you could T1 NH, T2 cast if you drew it, but I'm assuming you'll need to Etutor for it). Affinity usually has their hand played out by turn 2/3, so the additional 2 cost isn't really slowing them down and the spot removal probably isn't going to help out either, sans destroying a lone cranial plating. I could see Aura being really good against Enchantress, as they take longer to develop. A turn 3 Aura drop could slow them down a few turns. My question, after all that introduction, is: Why not Serenity? I realize Serenity needs to remain around for a turn - not a problem versus Affinity, but it could be Oblivion Ringed or Sealed away by Enchantress, but it costs 1 less, totally wipes the board and doesn't target (avoiding Sterling Grove). It kills your own equipment, but this is minor and wiping the board versus an Enchantress/Affinity player is GG (plus, you usually don't have any equipment on board this early in the game).
    2) Were you surprised Merfolk left in FOW in games 2 and 3? You said you left in Teeg to stop Submerge and FOW. Stopping Submerge, I understand, but I thought Merfolk teck against GW was to remove FOW? Bring in extra Dismembers, Submerges, Mind Harness, Jitte, GY hate, but remove the FOW's as they don't want to lose card advantage.
    I had considered Serenity, but I was expecting more Enchantress than Affinity in the meta. Also, as you mentioned, I run the equipment package as well as 2 Sylvan Libraries. My experience with Serenity vs Enchantress also has been that they oftentimes will bring in Karmic Justice expecting enchantment removal to come in from the board, which really wrecks you as well.

    I was surprised to still see Forces in, but I kept Teeg in because I think keeping a Knight safe from Submerge is worth it.

  11. #11
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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Nice Esper, congrats!

    The Glowriders are definitely unconventional, and I wonder if adding one or two Mirran Crusaders in their spot would help out being more aggro.
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    Re: 3rd @ Gunslinger Games - Beta Savannah (12/03/11) Event

    Quote Originally Posted by rukcus View Post
    Nice Esper, congrats!

    The Glowriders are definitely unconventional, and I wonder if adding one or two Mirran Crusaders in their spot would help out being more aggro.
    Yeah, I was wanting something to help more against Combo / Control, but turned out I faced aggro all tournament!

    However, I think they were still overall probably correct for the meta given many of my friends faced multiple combo decks throughout the tournament.

    I do love me some Mirran Crusader + Equipment / Exalted. My problem has always been wishing that guy was some sort of hate creature instead when I've played him in the past.

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