Yup. The card is actually nuts. I still need to find my set of chinese ones.
Soldier Stompy
Originally Posted by nedleeds
That would be me. I advised it to pokpok since he was desperate on the elves match-up. However he played it once and lost to drs activations in a glimpse sequence and never played it since then.
CLICK HERE FOR THE RULES OF A VERY FUN MULTIPLAYER CASUAL FORMAT
You very likely can build it without spending any money, just out of what you already have.
An example with my (very large) list in a visual form
This is why we also play Suppression Field?
Soldier Stompy
Suppression field didn't matter, he was producing bazillions of mana.
CLICK HERE FOR THE RULES OF A VERY FUN MULTIPLAYER CASUAL FORMAT
You very likely can build it without spending any money, just out of what you already have.
An example with my (very large) list in a visual form
That's why I prefer Damping Matrix in the sideboard. Just stops creatures and artifacts (non-mana) completely instead of just taxing.
After a lot of cockatrice games and some advice from my friend JPA (he faced PokPok a lot on MODO and feared Soldier Stompy a lot more than Lejays GBw build), i bought the deck for same real card games.
My current list:
// Deck: Soldier (60)
// Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
1 City of Traitors
2 Karakas
9 Plains
1 Tower of the Magistrate
// Creatures
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Captain of the Watch
3 Daru Warchief
4 Enlistment Officer
2 Gustcloak Savior
2 High Sentinels of Arashin
2 Jötun Grunt
2 Kor Hookmaster
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
// Spells
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
4 Suppression Field
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Dawnbringer Charioteers
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Ghostly Prison
SB: 2 Oblivion Ring
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 Timely Reinforcements
Some thoughts:
Elves aren't a problem in germany (besides julian23) and with more UR Delver, strong european Miracle Players and generally a rise of removal, i don't think Elves are the best meta choice now (which can be different in usa). So without Elves, Aven Mindcensor (no Soldier, dies easy to forked bolt etc.), Holy Light or the nice Magus of the Moat tech aren't necessary. Wastelands without Mindcensor also seems wrong here.
I feel that the deck struggles vs good midrange decks (and bug..), stoneforge into batterskull is hard to beat, if you can't get a timely suppression field online. Against Batterskull, TNNs, big Goys etc i included some solutions:
1 Tower of the Magistrate Maindeck as land number 21 (generally more lands, less mulligans, especially without ballyrush).
2 Gustcloak Savior - good body vs any Delver.dec, allow forceful attacks against, bskull, tnn, gofy etc.
2 Kor Hookmaster - worked better as my previous ORings, because Soldier (for officer, warchief, cavern, p.captain), tap down delver, germ, gofy right up to emrakul.
2 Disenchant (mainly for batterskull, but can also hit sneak attack and random stuff/matchups)
-------------
Other slots are here to fight the UR meta:
More Bolt-proof (also massacre, pyroclasm) Beater: Brimaz, Grunt, High Sentinells, Savior.
4 resilient Flyers vs Delver (High Sentinells, Savior) worked better for me compared to the WW-Archers, with 2 more Charioteers at side, Delver attacks can be stopped effective.
I don't liked Holy Light, because it only work (once) against Young Pyromancer & Friends, TNN without Equipment (or Merfolk-Lord) and some Elves or Infect-Creatures.
For me 2 Ghostly Prison are the right choice against swarms, only elves can answer it, but in this case, you should smash Magus of the Moat as a near perfect solution (if you also have enough flyers). Ghostly Prison also keeps Swiftspears, Delvers etc in check, because it prevents additional spell chains.
The random Timely Reinforcements worked surprisingly well, most first turn plays are lead with tomb-damage, lock-pieces like chalice, and removal/counter from your opponen. So it isn't uncommon to have less life than an opponnentand face an early threat - so 6 life (also nice to get out of burn range) and 3 soldiers (ready for lord -pump) seems good.
I will continue to play and develope the funny deck 2015
TEAM MtG Berlin
Sweet to see you find something to fill the curve for cc=3, i never try hookmaster, i think i will give her a shot. To my mind she was like jotun grunt a nice card, but not good enough to sail on current legacy sea.
Skull is really annoying that's why build some initiative wall was sometimes necessary, and that's why i use to play 2 tower in sideboard, sfm deck are quite slow to fight in legacy, they disrupt you just enough to put batterskull online, so if you have an answer to skull they will just sink, having only few nemesis to threaten you. So i use to side out chrome mox against them for tower, it happens to be a problem on W mana source, but we still keep 15 W sources for soldier, i admit we only had 11 that's why i wasn't playing council jugment in sideboard.
I was thinking on playing a second high sentinelle, mainly because it's a good solution against batterskull, and because it can win the game on it's own. But the only card i would have cut for it was the gustcloak, that's why i couldn't rise up this number. And decrease prob for my best interaction (preeminent into captain of the watch), was just out of mind. So if i test your option i think i won't play the second gustcloak over captain number 4.
Containment priest, didn't test her, mainly because they are just impossible to find online if you don't buy pack (ok, it's not a good explanation), but for sure if i remove censor i would play her.
Holy light was there for elves, and because it's also decent against UR, but ghostly is a huge solution against swiftspear and pyromancer, and it's still a good card to draw when you are facing 2 lethal delver, so i guess i will try them.
So I played this deck at SCG Philly this past weekend. Here's the list I played:
8 Plains
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Karakas
1 Eiganjo Castle (this is meant to be another Karakas but I didn't obtain a second one in time for the tournament)
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Winter Orb
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Enlistment Officer
3 Ballyrush Banneret
3 Longbow Archer
3 Daru Warchief
2 Jotun Grunt
2 Kor Skyfisher
2 High Sentinels of Arashin
1 Gustcloak Savior
2 Captain of the Watch
SB:
2 Containment Priest
3 Intrepid Hero
4 Damping Matrix
2 Winter Orb
3 Rest in Peace
1 Magus of the Moat
Round 1 vs. U/W/B Stoneblade: (Lost 1-2)
- Game 1: I kept a slow hand without much disruption but heavy on creatures. If I am not facing removal, I would win with Preeminent Captain into other stuff pretty easily. My opponent started off with Thoughtseize and took one of my soldiers, and then after I played Preeminent Captain, he Swords'd it promptly. After that it was a steady stream of Thoughtseize and Swords again, and finally he lands a Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull. I drag it out too long (a theme this tournament - I should have just conceded long G1s when I didn't have a chance to win) and I fail to stick anything relevant.
- Game 2: I have Chalice @ 1 on the play on Turn 1, followed by Preeminent Captain into Captain of the Watch. This is essentially the "God" hand for this deck and wins 98% of the time it is played out this way.
- Game 3: I again have Chalice @ 1 early on, and then I play Jotun Grunt a while later. I am beating on him for a turn and then on a subsequent upkeep, I completely miss the Grunt cumulative upkeep payment. Dejected, I point it out and send the Grunt to the graveyard. The turn earlier he had played Liliana and made me sac a different creature, and now that the Grunt dies via my mistake, I have nothing to attack Lili with. If I had kept the Grunt in play, I could have killed Lili. I have Winter Orb in play, too, so his mana is severely constricted. His Lili is enough to stop me from developing a board presence and I later concede without much time left in the round. If I hadn't missed the Grunt trigger, I might have won, but he told me that we would have gone to time and drawn, because he had Supreme Verdict in hand and would have cast it when Winter Orb allowed him to untap four lands. If I hadn't missed the Grunt trigger, I definitely wouldn't have lost - I might have drawn, but there's no way he would have won. At the very least, if we had more time (If i had conceded G1 much sooner), I would be topdecking threats while he had nothing in play and a very small hand, and I had Chalice in play and Winter Orb.
Round 2 vs. Sneak 'n Show: (Lost 1-2)
- Game 1: I get Chalice @ 1 in play early and cast Grunt off a Cavern. He says "Uncounterable Grunt is Uncounterable!" which made me laugh for some reason. I am attacking him with Grunt and eating his graveyard, unaware of what he is playing, when he casts Show and Tell and puts Griselbrand into play. I think I have High Sentinels of Arashin in play as well at this point. His life total is low so he doesn't activate Griselbrand initially, but when it comes time for me to attack I obviously can't attack into it. On his turn, he attacks with Griselbrand and I am forced to keep chumping with my guys, including the High Sentinels. After this, his lifelink and card draw is just too much to overcome. Here's where I think some card choices made a difference. I was contemplating putting Commander Eesha into this deck but opted for Gustcloak + High Sentinels in those slots instead. Had my Sentinels been Commander Eesha in this situation, I could have chumped his Griselbrand indefinitely and he would be unable to gain life from it and draw any cards.
- Game 2: Post board I see Containment Priest and Chalice. He Show and Tells when I am tapped out but my Priest is still in my hand. I feel like I made a mistake, but he puts Sneak Attack into play, trying to play around Karakas. I put Priest into play and his Sneak Attack is turned off. A few turns later I get the win after he fails to find any answers to Priest.
- Game 3: I keep a great hand with Chalice of the Void @ 1 AND Containment Priest AND Intrepid Hero, and great mana. I feel like there is no way I should lose this game! I play Chalice @ 1 early which leads him to complain about my luck with drawing Chalices, I flash in Containment Priest early and start attacking with it while he just plays lands and a Sneak Attack. I eventually have Intrepid Hero in play, and a Winter Orb, and Containment Priest, and I am feeling confident. So on one turn, I am attacking with Priest and Intrepid Hero to do maximum damage. This is obviously, in hindsight, very stupid to do when Sneak Attack is in play. The whole point of Hero is to stay back and act as a deterrent to putting Emrakul/Griselbrand in play! On his turn, he waits until he gets enough mana, then he plays Fire//Ice (Fire) on my Priest, and then activates Sneak Attack to put Emrakul in play and wipe my board, after which I concede. If I had kept Hero untapped indefinitely, I would have stopped this line of play and probably won. Afterwards he tells me he also had Griselbrand in play, but I can't tell if he's telling the truth or not. If he had both Griselbrand and Emrakul in play, he would have had to wait one more turn to get enough mana to activate Sneak Attack twice, so I might have still lost even with Hero in play. I think if the Hero had been another Containment Priest, I could have just kept him in hand and then if the first Priest is killed, I could flash in the second after he activates Sneak Attack. Or if the Hero had been Banishing Light, I could have simply exiled the Sneak Attack proactively after he played it.
Round 3 vs. ANT: (Won 2-0)
- Game 1: My opponent is pretty distracted and probably not a great player, and he looks as if he's not even in the match. My early Chalice @ 1 on the play basically seals his fate and I don't see him play anything before the Soldiers kill him.
- Game 2: I again land Chalice @ 1 early and Thalia (I think), and he has a Dark Confidant in play doing nothing but helping me kill him. These were the easiest games of the entire day for me.
Round 4 vs. ANT: (Drew 1-1-1)
- Game 1: My opponent is some player of renown and has multiple big tournament top 8s under his belt, and kind of acts like I'm not worthy of being his opponent. However, we are both in the same scrub bracket at this point so "tough luck, you're going to have to play against non-standard decks at this point, buddy". On Turn 1, I play Plains or something else that telegraphs that I'm playing a white deck, and then on his turn he casts Cabal Therapy blind, naming Thalia. Low and behold, I have two Thalias in my hand, and next turn I was going to play Cavern of Souls -> Thalia. I smile a smile of defeat and bin them both. Next turn, I somehow topdeck ANOTHER Thalia and windmill slam it into play and suddenly he doesn't look nearly as smug. From this point on, I just keep playing guys and he doesn't have enough to get around Thalia before I kill him.
- Game 2: I have Chalice and Thalia in hand. I play Chalice @ 1 and on my EOT he promptly Abrupt Decays it. I later stick Thalia and some other Soldiers, and have him pretty low on life. He has plenty of lands in play, however, and he had recently Infernal Tutored for a Dark Ritual copy after revealing one from his hand. The turn before I would kill him, he goes off through Thalia with multiple rituals and then fetches Tendrils for just enough life loss to kill me (I had dropped to 14 or so life after Ancient Tomb activations.)
- Game 3: I have a Chalice of the Void in my hand but no Moxen or Sol-Lands. I have one-mana-producing lands in hand. I decide to keep the hand because Chalice is really important in the matchup and I don't want to risk going to smaller hands with no disruption or no lands. So he plays Cabal Therapy on his first turn after I pass, and names... CHALICE. Despite naming Thalia earlier, and not knowing my hand (or did he?)... Of course I am depressed and discard the Chalice. He doesn't have a quick combo kill, however, so I have time to land attackers such as a Jotun Grunt. I had Thalia and other guys in play too, but he had later cast Massacre and/or Pyroclasm. At some point in the game I have the ability to use Grunt's cumulative upkeep on a Cabal Therapy in his graveyard. I instead choose some other spell and a land, or something. Next turn he goes off with Empty the Warrens, with enough storm to generate 12 Goblin tokens. I have Enlistment Officer in my hand that he has seen from the previous Cabal Therapy, and he names it when he flashes back his Cabal Therapy by sacing a Goblin token. If I had put the Therapy on the bottom of his deck with Grunt, he would not be able to make this play and then next turn I could cast Officer to get more Soldiers in play, but instead I topdeck a land and am forced to sit back with Grunt and some other Soldier or two to block Goblin tokens. He is low on life and only attacks with 10 ( I think), and we get into this board situation where I can't attack and he can't attack, and then I can attack with 1-2 Soldiers and he has to hold back Goblins to block, and the game goes on long. Eventually the round goes to time, and just as I have enough Soldiers to attack him and kill him, the game has to be a draw. If I had been able to cast Enlistment Officer that turn after he goes off, I would have greatly accelerated my board presence enough to probably kill him before the game turned into a draw, so another mistake with Grunt's upkeep probably cost me the win in this match. Ross Merriam (friends with the player?) was standing behind me along with a substanial crowd (you tend to draw crowds when you're one of the last matches to finish in the round and you're playing a really weird deck that people rarey see at these tournaments) and chimed in to say to his friend "If you hadn't imprinted Dark Ritual on your Chrome Mox you could have made enough Goblin tokens to kill him!" So maybe he made a mistake that cost him the win as well.
Round 5 vs. U/B Helm / Tezzerator: (Won 2-1)
- Game 1: I have Ancient Tomb and two Chalices in hand, a bunch of Soldiers, and zero colored mana, and decide to keep it because we all know Chalice is just boss in this format. Unfortunately my opponent leads with an Ancient Tomb as well, and I quickly realize that Chalice is not what I want to see in this matchup at all. He plays some Dimir Signets and gets his colored mana online, and I am stuck with two Ancient Tombs and two Chalice of the Voids in play, one at 1 and one at 2. I eventually lose to his Tezzeret doing some nasty stuff.
- Game 2: I board out all four of my Chalices faster than you can blink. I bring in Damping Matrices and more Winter Orbs. This game,I don't remember exaclty how it went, but I remember winning pretty quickly somehow. Winter Orb did a ton of work in this matchup because it slows down his mana and prevents him from dropping bombs.
- Game 3: I land both Damping Matrix and Winter Orb again, and a Preeminent Captain. In this game I just out-tempo him and all he can manage to do is play Tezzeret or Jace ( don't remember which), which dies to my guys, and then he plays Helm of Obedience and targets me for X=1. He snags an Enlistment Officer for his board, and surprise, surprise, it doesn't reveal any Soldiers off the top of his deck. :) He is confused about his Helm being sacced after activation and getting creatures, so we get a discussion with the kindly Judge who gives him a game rules violation after looking up Helm's oracle text. I win a pretty easy match against a deck that usually is not a good matchup for Soldiers at all.
Round 6 vs. U/W Miracles: (Drew 1-1-1)
- Game 1: I get a fast start by putting a ton of dudes into play. I think I may have had Chalice @ 1 in this game, but I dont' remember for sure. All I know is that I was a turn away from killing him when he topdecks a blind Terminus and wipes my board, and then he uses his counterbalance to lock me out of the game as I am wishing for even one Cavern of Souls to pop up, but to no avail. Just like in Round 1, I drag Game 1 out of for WAY too long thinking I have a shot to win, but he lands Jace and has Countertop in play for several turns before I scoop. My thought process was that if I just get one Cavern of Souls, I can start powering out guys again, but instead I am forced to just play Enlistment Officer into counterbalance, which counters it with Jace reveal. Once I saw Jace, I should have gone to G2 immediately, but I am just so unaware of time passing in these tournaments because I am mostly an online player.
- Game 2: I board in more Winter Orbs and I think I had Chalice on the play on Turn 1, or maybe just Winter Orb. Regardless, I win this one quickly as he is unable to get much going with my Orbs/Chalices in play, and I think I had Thalia as well.
- Game 3: This one was quick, as I had Winter Orb early, I think, and we didn't have much time left so I tried to play fast. He keeps saying that this is going to "go to time no matter what". I fail to understand how he can be so confident when his life is low, and he goes and plays Peacekeeper, tapping out to do so. On my turn, I just drop a WInter Orb and watch him be forced to sacrifice it after he can only untap one land and thus can't pay the upkeep cost! I have the win in hand if I can just attack with Preeminent Captain. Unfortunately, he Swords to Plowshares the Preeminent Captain and the 1-2 other Soldiers I have in play aren't enough damage to kill him before our 5 turns are up. If he hadn't StPed the Captain or we had just a little bit more time, I probably win this game. Lesson learned: if you don't have a great chance to win a game vs. Miracles, concede that game ASAP to conserve time.
Round 7 vs. U/W/R Stoneblade/Pyromancer: (Won 2-1)
- Game 1: Now that I have the thoroughly mediocre record of 2-2-2, I am definitely facing the scrubs of the tournament. My opponent is an older guy who sounds like a really casual player as he explains to me that he just got back into Magic recently and borrowed this deck from a friend. He is asking basic questions about the game mechanics and making bad mistakes like chump blocking the wrong guys and missing out on making more profitable blocks. Nevertheless, this is a tough matchup and in Game 1 I just lose to True Name Nemesis x 2 despite landing Chalice @ 1 early on.
- Game 2: I again land Chalice @ 1 (I can't believe how often I got this early in my hand in this tournament) early on, and I just overrun him early without much resistance.
- Game 3: His Stoneforge Mystic and Batterskull are not enough to stop Preeminent Captain, and Daru Warchief, and Captain of the Watch and a bunch of other Soldiers.
Round 8 vs. U/G Infect: (Lost 1-2)
- Game 1: At this point I am just playing for fun and it doesn't bother me that I'm playing against Infect, but if I was actually playing for a day 2 spot I would be scared because this matchup is tough despite Chalice @ 1. This is exactly what happens as I lose to Blighted Agent beats, being unable to block his guys.
- Game 2: I am just faster than he is, as I attack him with Preeminent Captain putting Captain of the Watch into play.
- Game 3: I have Chalice @ 1 but it doesn't matter because of Blighted Agent and Invigorate.
After this I just decide to chil out for the remainder of the tournament and watch other people play and then leave the tournament hall early. I didn't really expect to make Day 2, and actually wanted to head home and do some stuff like watch football, so I wasn't really sad, but I knew in my heart that if I had played better and made less mistakes there is a strong chance that I could have made Day 2 and then who knows what happens after that.
There was a ton of Storm combo in this tournament so this field was actually pretty ripe for Soldiers to do well because 4 Chalice and 4 Thalia MD make it a favorable matchup for this deck. If I had made it into Day 2 I probably would have seen mostly U/R Delver and Storm Combo. There was very few B/G/x decks in this tournament, and only a few Stoneforge Mystic decks. So again, this field was great for Soldiers, so it is a bit disappointing not to have done better.
Going forward, If I'm to play this deck in a big tournament again, I think I need to make some structural changes. The sideboard probably needs to be streamlined by alot. I think I'd rather just have 4 Containment Priests and/or some Banishing Lights. Hero is interesting but can be too cute when Sneak'n'Show opponents play Pyroclasm and stuff. Additionally, Rest in Peace basically did nothing at all the entire time, and it sat in my hand doing nothing when i boarded it vs. Storm combo. I didn't see a single Dredge deck in this tournament at all when I was walking around watching matches. I also didn't see much RUG Delver or BUG Delver. I think if this metagame continues to look like this, you can just completely cut Rest in Peace from the sideboard and rely on Containment Priest in the Reanimator and Dredge matchups. I also think if I had played Commander Eesha in this deck I could have won some games I didn't. Eesha can block Batterskull all day, and can block Griselbrand as well.
I loved Jotun Grunt in this deck and think that 2 Grunts is really solid as long as people are filling their graveyard as fast as they can. You just have to remember their Cumulative Upkeep costs and what to target with those costs. :)
Ironically, I had prepared mostly by testing against UR Delver and UWR Delver before this tournament but didn't see a SINGLE DELVER the entire day. Of course, If I had done better early in the tournament and had been in the 3-0/4-0 brackets I probably would have seen more Delvers, but all of the Longbow Archers and Kor Skyfishers in the main deck just basically were no better than Grizzly Bears for all intensive purposes.
Overall, the deck felt really solid and fun. I think it can be competitive in the right hands, but because it is a Tier 2 deck, you basically have to really play almost flawlessly if you want to do well in a tournament like this. My lack of big tournament experience cost me (not conceding some games when I should have) and my many obvious play mistakes also cost me pretty dearly. The deck really felt as if it could have won every match (except the Infect match, which is just bad most of the time). I would like to play this deck in other big tournaments, but clearly I need to improve my skill level and understanding of tournament dynamics.
My buddy played you and said you wouldn't shake his hand and were "kind of an ass."
Which round was that?
I did refuse to shake hands vs. some people but mostly because I am trying to avoid getting sick this time of the year. It's Flu Season and I just try to avoid making contact with people in general - I really hope he didn't take it personally, because I didn't mean it that way at all.
Ah, that makes more sense.
He was your round 2 opponent on SnS. I've been brewing this deck for a while, so he mentioned your build to me. He's like, the nicest guy I know though, which was why the handshake thing stood out to me.
Yeah, he was actually very cool, and I was amused by the things he said - he recognized my archetype when he quipped "Ah! Soldier Stompy!" and the "Uncounterable Grunt is Uncounterable!"
I didn't intend to insult him in any way by refusing to shake hands or just my general demeanor - again, the shaking hands thing is due to flu season being outrageous right now, and if this tournament were in the summer time I wouldn't have any problem shaking hands before the match at all. I'm starting a new job tomorrow so I basically am trying to avoid being sick at any costs right now...
Regarding my demeanor - I try to say as little as possible and interact as little as possible during the match, because I'm naturally gregarious and friendly and I've found that I often do worse when I have friendly banter with my opponents. So I just try to keep the interaction at a minimum *during* the game, but after the games are finished, win or lose, I'll gladly discuss anything and everything and try to be as friendly as possible.
Ah, I can completely see where you're coming from. Sorry for the inquisition, and gratz on the new job. If you see us again, make sure to say hey. I'll get the first round of drinks. :)
Any updates here from the new set? Like Valorous Stance for SB?
Unfortunately the last playable Soldier that Wizards printed was probably High Sentinels of Arashin in the last set. There's really no Soldier in Fate Reforged that's good enough for Legacy, unfortunately.
Valorous Stance is completely unplayable in Legacy in basically any deck.
However, I do think I will be taking this deck to the 40 Duals tournament in Oaks, PA this weekend, so wish me luck with the new build adapted to the BUG metagame.
My latest list worked well in the TC-Meta, but now with BUG on the rise it seems like the worst BGx (including also Elves) Matchups are back - Decay, Wasteland, Gofy are all good against the common Soldier-Stompy stuff.
High Sentinels of Arashin seems like one of the best cards against BUG (decay and delver proof) - for me it seems that the best news are, that miracle is still one of the best decks and Soldier Stompy has a lot of tools to beat this deck (playsets: Cavern, Chalice, Thalia, SField, Officer, Captains etc.)
Waiting for your report (and adapted list!) from the tournament - hope you do well
TEAM MtG Berlin
I had a really rough day at the 40 Duals tournament yesterday. Probably my worst competitive showing in any Magic tournament ever.
Round 1 lost to UWR Delver 0-2. G1 He Forced my first Chalice then Spell Pierced the second and then ran out not one but two True Name Nemesis. G2 he Forced my Chalice, let Thalia resolve then played Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull. I had enough first strikers to hold him off but then he played True Name Nemesis and TNN+Batterskull was unbeatable.
Round 2 beat "maCHOOga" from thesource playing 12post 2-1. G1 his deck did what his deck does with Candelabra and I had no chance. G2 and G3 I played stuff like Winter Orb and Preeminent Captain and got him before he could transition to his superior late-game. Really nice guy too, and he did much better overall in the tournament than I did.
Round 3 losing 0-2 to Miracles was the match that really just got to me this day. I was playing against some chubby greaseball playing Miracles. G1 I resolve Chalice @ 1 after having a first Chalice get Forced. I have Karakas in play, Thalia and Enlistment Officer in play attacking when he spins his top and sets up Terminus on his turn. He clearly says "Terminus trigger?" and shows the Terminus. I say "resolves", thinking of the trigger resolving. Of course he tells me that both Thalia and Officer have to go to bottom of the library, but I say I want to respond to the spell and target Thalia with Karakas. He looks at me and says "You said RESOLVE! You said RESOLVE!" as if he's caught a kid lying about his school grades in his report card to his parents. He calls over a judge, who then tells me that because I said "resolve" that I have to essentially get rid of Thalia and Officer without having any chance to respond. Of course I was on tilt after that, and later I just forgot a Jotun Grunt upkeep trigger for no reason and lost to Entreat the Angels. In G2 he has a ton of countermagic and my stuff like Chalice and Winter Orb all get countered. After the match he even has the nerve to stretch out his fat ham hock of a hand and smile a broad, s***-eating grin while saying "Good match!". For the record I watched this guy's matches the rest of the day and was satisfied that justice was served eventually, as he lost some really close matches the rest of the day to Delver decks and barely missed out on the top 8.
Round 4 losing 0-2 to Shardless BUG - I was disheartened by the previous round still, AND was playing against a bad matchup so I just wasn't into it, and his deck was probably better in a vacuum anyway. Both games involved creature standoffs where he had like 50 Tarmogoyfs in play and I couldn't attack, then he got value over the long run with Ancenstral Visions and the like.
After dropping I spent time watching Roland Chang play MUD and thought to myself that I might just have to abandon this deck and use the pieces I have to build MUD instead. It's either that or dramatically rebuild this into some configuration that isn't weak to all of the Wx Stoneforge and BGx Tarmogoyf decks running around. I don't know what would be involved but I think I need some different configuration of pieces to compete with this metagame. The problem with this deck is that now, post-bannings, there are more BGx, UWx, and Wastelands, Tarmogoyfs, Stoneforge Mystics, and Deathrite Shamans than ever before. It seems as if very few people are even playing Storm, Sneak'n'Show, and Miracles (just looking around the room), which traditionally were the three matchups this deck preyed upon. If the entire field is midrangey stuff with Batterskulls and Goyfs, then this deck definitely loses alot of appeal.
Thanks for a shoutout! After starting 0-2, I was live for top 16 until my 3rd loss in the final round. You're deck was awesome.
I was a former MUD player. The deck is very good, but it's worst enemy is itself. That the only deck I've ever played where I could go 6-0 and 0-4 with the exact same build.
Something to test in Dragons of Tarkir:
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Legendary Creature - Spirit Soldier
Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, bolster 1.
2/2
They tortured her for honoring her ancestors; now she walks among them.
I took this deck to Eternal Extravaganza 2 and went 6-3. I was basically one match win away from probably getting into the top-16 or at the very least top-24, but had to settle for top 50 instead unfortunately.
R1 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R2 - 2-0 vs Mono Blue Stiflenaught
R3 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R4 - 1-2 vs Sneak n Show
R5 - 1-2 vs Dark Maverick
R6 - 0-2 vs Lands
R7 - 2-0 vs Dredge
R8 - 2-1 vs UWB Stoneblade
R9 - 2-1 vs Mono Red Burn
The combination of flying blockers like Kor Skyfisher and of course Chalice of the Void was wonderful against the Delver decks I played against.
The problem I ran into vs. Sneak n Show and Lands was losing to their legendary win conditions. Despite playing 2 Karakas MD I didn't draw them enough to save me.
Vs. the Sneak deck, I had Containment Priest from the board in G3 but he cast a quick Show n Tell and I only had a single Ancient Tomb in play and could not cast Priest in response. In the past I ran Oblivion Ring and/or Intrepid Hero for that matchup and either would have been better in that scenario.
Vs. the Lands deck, I had Thalia and Chalice in play G1 and some semblance of control but lost when he just assembled Depths+Stage combo in his hand without tutoring for anything. In G2 I just mulled to oblivion looking for my Rest In Peace / Winter Orb/ Chalice and didn't find anything.
I feel as if I need to play at least 3 Karakas MD and even a 4th Karakas in the SB. It is simply too important to have answers to Sneak n Show Creatures and the Dark Depths token. In the future I will be going with this 3/1 split and then maxing out on 4 Karakas in post-board games to hopefully increase my win % against Sneak n Show, Reanimator, and Lands.
Other than that, I had alot of fun playing this deck. There is simply no better feeling than winning from behind by flooding the board with Soldier lords put into play off a Preeminent Captain.
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