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Thread: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

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    Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Yesterday was the Giga Bytes quarterly Win a Mox event. I was going to play Storm up until about 10 o'clock the night before the event when the other Tusks got to talking about how good Standstill is and it got me rock hard to play a bad Standstill deck. So I threw this together:

    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Tarmogoyf
    2 Qasali Pridemage
    2 Ramunap Excavator
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    3 Renegade Rallier
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Hooting Mandrills
    1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

    4 Standstill
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Council's Judgement
    1 Blessed Alliance
    2 Green Sun's Zenith
    2 Spell Pierce
    1 Flusterstorm

    3 Flooded Strand
    3 Misty Rainforest
    2 Windswept Heath
    2 Tundra
    2 Savannah
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Plains
    1 Forest
    1 Island
    3 Wasteland
    3 Mishra's Factory

    SB:
    3 Surgical Extraction
    3 Natural Order
    1 Progenitus
    1 Terastodon
    1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
    4 Force of Will
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Blessed


    So yeah. It's a fucking pile. The tourney had I think it was 96 people in it. Anyway this tourney answered me a riddle. How do you go undefeated into the final round and not even make top 16?

    Round 1: Eldrazi
    Game 1: I believe I am on the play, I play a land and pass. He makes a Mimic and passes. I drop a Mishra's Factory and drop a standstill figuring I probably have the advantage (This was probably incredibly loose against a deck with an on board 2/1, Factories, and Wastelands in his deck). Fortunately on his next turn after I untap and play a third land he simply attacks, I get to activate factory and pump it and suddenly I'm in control. He makes land drops and so do I and finally breaks the standstill with something. I answer what he's got and Rallier back a Standstill and draw a million cards.
    Game 2: he has no play T1, I follow up with a Noble Hierarch. He goes second sol land, spirit guide and smasher. I boarded in my NO package to try to go bigger, get to plow his smasher next turn and discard Progenitus that is stuck in my hand. I get a decent board position and Resolve Natural Order. Based on the board I think I can just go all in and win so I geddon myself to make 18 power with Terastodon. Unfortunately after forcing him to wipe his own board with attacks he finds his 1-of All is Dust and I get BTFO.
    Game 3: He gets a chalice down, but it doesn't affect me too bad. I finagle my way around his threats and I get to Natural Order again after he cracks the last standstill I had after board and I get Terastodon, this time hitting my own land, his chalice, and a sol land of his. Terastodon takes over and I get the W.

    1-0

    Round 2: Miracles
    This match up turned out to be a super grind all day but I think this deck is very good against Miracles.
    Game 1: I get down and resolve a turn 3 Standstill. He eventually breaks it at the end of my turn. Not having a lot of flash threats really cost me a bit here. He gets to untap on a mostly clear board but he can't easily tap out and brainstorm with Jace due to possibility of Factory plus exalted to kill Jace. I don't think he ever got to Brainstorm with Either Jace he resolved this game while my factorys did work. Eventually he succumbs to a Rallier getting back a third standstill while he has 1 card in hand and scoops after a 25 minute game 1.
    Game 2: I figure standstill is good here for me so I just board into forces and such to better fight wars over things that matter while I keep up CA with Standstill. I think I fairly quickly get a good advantage and he scoops fairly quickly.

    2-0

    Round 3: Lands
    Game 1: This one went long. I had to plow a Marit Lage while his double PFire mowed down most of my dudes. Fortunately I had Goyfs at 4/5. It was slow though with a maze going but he didn't find a loam and had to try to race me with PFires. I eventually got a 3rd goyf and ended up winning at 1 life left.
    Game 2: Again I'm in the drivers seat of this one. I get a choice in the mid game while I have him on 3 lands with only grove as a red source after I just plowed a Marit Lage. I can surgucal his PFires that are working on my creatures while he is tapped out, or I can surgical his Dark Depths and force him to win with Fires. I choose Fires on the fact that he doesn't have loam yet and I just made him go all in so I want to try to finish it quickly, plus I have Ramunap out so if I draw a Wasteland I can stop his depths plan. Unfortunately he draws a loam next turn and I die. PUNT. If I take depths there were only 5 minutes left on the clock I probably could've force the game to a draw at least to win the match.
    Game 3: I keep him off of mana, have Ramunap plus wasteland going, but it goes to time and we draw. Rough.

    2-0-1

    Round 4: Junk
    Game 1: I have a hand of 2 Noble and a Plow. I get a noble out and he Thought seizes my plow. He doesn't have a strong follow up though. He resolves a liliana, but I get to kill it with a factory and double hierarch I believe. Then I find a Rallier. Wasteland his Bayou, Rallier Wasteland his Scrubland and now he's back on 2 lands and he doesn't find a third and dies.
    Game 2: I am doing pretty well in the mid game though I was mana screwed for a few turns by keeping a 1 lander with 2 Hierarch. He gets ahead with a SToneforge for BSKull. I destroy a Sylvan with a pride mage. Next turn I bait him by attacking but he doesn't fall for it. Turn after I rip a fetch after he is tapped out. I get to get a Rallier getting a Pridemage back, attack with another rallier for 5, and blow up Skull before damage. Unfortunately his last card in hand is Jitte and he puts it on his stoneforge and takes over the game.
    Game 3: Similar game. Long Grind but my Goyfs plus his library gets him a bit low on life. Near the end he has 2 Goyf, 2 DRS, and a Stoneforge ( he got Jitte) to my 2 Goyf, 2 Hierarch, factory, and Mandrills. I get aggressive enough that he can't get a good attack with a Jitte in and run him over with Apes and Goyfs.

    3-0-1

    Round 5: Lands
    Game 1: The theme of the day is that this deck is a fucking grind. He wins a fairly long game 1 after I am a bit low on land and can never get a Scooze out to eat his loam.
    Game 2: I flusterstorm and spell pierce his early games and crop rotations to keep him off of combo. I plow his Marit Lage attempt in the mid game, then surgical Depths and create men too big to be PFired.
    Game 3: He gambles T1 and discards maze of ith. Then his turn 2 he plays explroation and passes? With no second land. I'm incredibly confushed, but I build up mana with Noble and Rallier to get back a fetch. He loams for nothing and I get to play Scooze and eat the Loam. Next turn I get down Sigarda and he plays drop of honey. Unfortunately for him, I have enough dudes to feed to the drop while Sigarda beats his face in and he doesn't do much.

    4-0-1

    Round 6: Miracles
    We get deck checked. Unfortunately for me I wrote "blessed" instead of Blessed Alliance on my SB copy and receive a game loss.
    Our "Game 2" goes super long. I think I crack 4 Standstills throughout and have to fight through a Gideon of the Trials that probably sits on the board for 7-8 turns. Every other turn he wraths me and I get to untap and play a dude or two and a standstill. I think this game was almost 30 minutes long. Eventually I run him out of resources and get him and his gideon with the emblem out.
    Game "3": It is just like Game 1. Super super long. I punt and attack with a factory that I don't need to risk. He gets a Gideon out with Emblem again and gets down a Jace. Both again sit on the board for 4-5 turns, but I still and running him out of cards. We go to turns and he's at 0 life from a fetch so I am drawing to my Council's Judgement, but unfortunately dont get there. He asks for concession, but I refuse because I don't think it affects me either way so I may as well play for the possible top 8 seeding.

    4-0-2

    Round 7: Elves
    Game 1 I get run over fairly quickly. This is a pretty horrendous match up.
    Game 2: I get an early goyf with a pridemage and a Noble. I force his glimpse early while chipping away with a goyf with exalted. Then he goes for a NO, but I have hardcast force and eventually get more dudes than he has and get him for exactsies.
    Game 3: I force two early glimpses, but it runs me out of cards and he just gets me with attacks and Deathrites. Rough match up for me on my win and in.

    4-1-2

    After a 7 round swiss I went into round 7 undefeated. If I had won I would have been in top 8, but if I had lost I don't even get top 16. Rough stuff. It happens I suppose. The dumb deck reg error really cost me because I would have won the second miracle match by winning game 1 and going to time in game 2. I'm not normally a players that ever goes to time and I play at a fairly brisk pace, but this deck despite playing a bunch of Goyfs does not win quickly. I do think it is decent, but there are changes I think could be made. I "celebrated" my tourney with a JW Lee's Lagavulin barrel aged Barleywine and went to bed sad.

    Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed the report and the deck! I do think it could be a pretty good deck with some changes. I think flash threats of some sort would be beneficial because good opponents could crack my standstill at the end of my turn and leave me with a lot of mana and very little board presence. Brian Plattenburg got to top 8 with a more traditional UW Standstill deck with Search for Azcanta's that was really good too so I think Standstill is still a farily viable strategy.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  2. #2

    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    First, take your sip [sip]
    do your dip [dip]
    Spend your money like money aint shit [whoop whooooop]
    We too fresh
    got to blame it on Jesus
    hashtag #blessed

    I feel like this deck wants KOTR in it somehow
    Then you can KotR for manlands and Wasteland, legendary flash creatures are great with Karakas (and then when you have KotR it also makes sense to play Scryb Ranger as a flash dork)
    Spell Queller is also a pretty good flash creature

    I don't know if 2 Ramunap and 2 Qasali is needed, Mandrills seems weird, so does goyf maybe? I think you want to decide whether you are GSZ utility deck or an efficient beatdown deck and pick one, I'm not sure that trying to go in both directions is a good idea.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    looks like a fun deck. congrats on brewing something and doing well. any reason why there's no dryad arbor? seems like a pretty good resource to have with standstill and also gives you some more ramp effects.
    -rob

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by mistercakes View Post
    looks like a fun deck. congrats on brewing something and doing well. any reason why there's no dryad arbor? seems like a pretty good resource to have with standstill and also gives you some more ramp effects.
    I knew I forgot to write something. There was an arbor in there. And thanks! Like I said I think the deck has legs and I think standstill is decent in the meta. Many people just don't know how to properly play around it
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Deck was pretty fun to watch. Certainly had a fair bit of play.
    Tusk up.
    (Not so) Current Decks: GB Elves, GW Maverick, GWb Maverick, LED Dredge, ANT, TES, Jund Storm.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Sweet read. Rallier and Standstill is a hilarious combo

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    I'm glad you found the inspiration to brew, despite your previous complaints with the state of the format.

    Quote Originally Posted by Megadeus View Post
    Round 5 ... Game 3: He gambles T1 and discards maze of ith. Then his turn 2 he plays explroation and passes? With no second land. I'm incredibly confushed, but I build up mana with Noble and Rallier to get back a fetch. He loams for nothing and I get to play Scooze and eat the Loam.
    I'm guessing he had a Mox Diamond + Exploration hand with Gamble, one real land, and Maze of Ith. In such a situation, he would Gamble for Loam and hope to not hit the Mox or the land to enable it, but it's a risky hand to keep. It has the ingredients of success but is short on lands, the most common element of the deck. Odds are good that the hand comes together with a land off the top, but if things go wrong, it's trouble. Also, I've seen some Lands players board out a significant number of lands in order to fit in an assortment of sideboard cards, and the downside to that is getting stuck on mana. I don't know if that was the case here, but the hand obviously didn't come together, and Ooze was just a dagger.

    Quote Originally Posted by Megadeus View Post
    We get deck checked. Unfortunately for me I wrote "blessed" instead of Blessed Alliance on my SB copy and receive a game loss.
    You're obviously a good player, but fundamentals like writing a correct decklist would have been the difference between a Top 8 slot and where you ended up. Have a friend look over your list next time. We want to see you and your brew in the Top 8!

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by ESG View Post
    I'm glad you found the inspiration to brew, despite your previous complaints with the state of the format.



    I'm guessing he had a Mox Diamond + Exploration hand with Gamble, one real land, and Maze of Ith. In such a situation, he would Gamble for Loam and hope to not hit the Mox or the land to enable it, but it's a risky hand to keep. It has the ingredients of success but is short on lands, the most common element of the deck. Odds are good that the hand comes together with a land off the top, but if things go wrong, it's trouble. Also, I've seen some Lands players board out a significant number of lands in order to fit in an assortment of sideboard cards, and the downside to that is getting stuck on mana. I don't know if that was the case here, but the hand obviously didn't come together, and Ooze was just a dagger.



    You're obviously a good player, but fundamentals like writing a correct decklist would have been the difference between a Top 8 slot and where you ended up. Have a friend look over your list next time. We want to see you and your brew in the Top 8!
    Yeah this is the third time I've gotten a deck list error (and it's only ever happened at the quarterlies here for some reason). This is the first time I've not won the match though. Now that I'm remembering I think the lands player next turn played a Tranquil Thicket. I think he said after he didn't want to have to play it or something so he tried to hold off another turn. Either way it was a very confusing play.

    Tbh my complaints with the format still exist (and 11 of the top 32 decks at SCG being Grixis Delver feels like it validates some of my complaints), but I think I got good match ups, and my opponents made more mistakes than me throughout the day which really is key. I think good match ups and limiting mistakes is key to doing well.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Nice! You talked about flash threats -- what about Vial? Vialing in Rallier right after a Standstill is cracked would be hilarious.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Wow awesome list and great finnish! Congrats!

  11. #11
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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by Megadeus View Post
    I knew I forgot to write something.



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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by ESG View Post
    You're obviously a good player, but fundamentals like writing a correct decklist would have been the difference between a Top 8 slot and where you ended up. Have a friend look over your list next time. We want to see you and your brew in the Top 8!
    @Megadeus, I'll reiterate that I think we should do decklists at weeklies until you learn.
    Tusk up.
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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by ESG View Post
    I'm guessing he had a Mox Diamond + Exploration hand with Gamble, one real land, and Maze of Ith. In such a situation, he would Gamble for Loam and hope to not hit the Mox or the land to enable it, but it's a risky hand to keep.
    If that was the case, the land player would have played land, then mox, exploration, and gamble.
    It does not make sense to play otherwise, as you risk losing either your exploration, your mox, or its enabler. Besides it gives you more chances to discard loam as you want to dredge asap with this kind of hand.

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by dte View Post
    If that was the case, the land player would have played land, then mox, exploration, and gamble.
    It does not make sense to play otherwise, as you risk losing either your exploration, your mox, or its enabler. Besides it gives you more chances to discard loam as you want to dredge asap with this kind of hand.
    Ah. True. I guess we can chalk it up to a bad keep then? Or maybe the above was the scenario and it was just poor sequencing?

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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by Megadeus View Post
    Yesterday was the Giga Bytes quarterly Win a Mox event. I was going to play Storm up until about 10 o'clock the night before the event when the other Tusks got to talking about how good Standstill is and it got me rock hard to play a bad Standstill deck. So I threw this together:

    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Tarmogoyf
    2 Qasali Pridemage
    2 Ramunap Excavator
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    3 Renegade Rallier
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Hooting Mandrills
    1 Sigarda, Host of Herons

    4 Standstill
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Council's Judgement
    1 Blessed Alliance
    2 Green Sun's Zenith
    2 Spell Pierce
    1 Flusterstorm

    3 Flooded Strand
    3 Misty Rainforest
    2 Windswept Heath
    2 Tundra
    2 Savannah
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Plains
    1 Forest
    1 Island
    3 Wasteland
    3 Mishra's Factory
    I'm saving the decklist and it's telling me this is only a 59 card maindeck? This is a really sweet build. I've been toying with Standstill too, and it was nice to see Grixis put a result into the GP Seattle Top 32! What changes would you have made to your 75 if you were going to take the deck out again?
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    Re: Riddle Me This: Rallier Standstill to a 20th Place Finish

    Quote Originally Posted by gibsonjunkie View Post
    I'm saving the decklist and it's telling me this is only a 59 card maindeck? This is a really sweet build. I've been toying with Standstill too, and it was nice to see Grixis put a result into the GP Seattle Top 32! What changes would you have made to your 75 if you were going to take the deck out again?
    Should be a dryad arbor in there somewhere. Honestly would put in more flash dudes. I think clique wanted in. I think cut the green sun's maybe is right, but I really love the card. Just too many times my opponent was able to end of my turn play something to crack my standstill and I draw 3 cards and do nothing with open mana.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

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