8. FTW: Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Cartouche of Solidarity, Cartouche of Solidarity
Should have played Forced Adaptation over the 2nd Cartouche.
1. Asthereal (TO): You can remove 1 token. Even OTP I can only deal 13 damage before Ephemeron resolves on turn 6, so you leave it to block and we draw. DD 2-2
2. Tylert: Your Bogle outgrows mine LL 0-6
3. alphastryk: OTP I deal you 16 damage before Baloth #1 resolves on turn 6. Then you can hold back 1 Baloth, fight a token, and attack with the 2nd. LL 0-6
4. Wrath of Pie: Lush Growth can't hurt me. OTP I can get you to 4 before Baloth #1 resolves. Then you hold back 1 and attack with the 2nd, and I can attack through for 3 hits with 1/1s to get you to 1 life, but not below. LL 0-6
5. Moosedog: You Bolt my token. We both net 2 damage per turn cycle. You have tempo on me, but damaging yourself cancels that out. OTP I win the race. OTD you win the race. See below. WL 3-3
6. H: Your Hoplite eventually outgrows me. Really should have played Forced Adaptation. LL 0-6
7. silkster: Sea's Claim beats tapped land. LL 0-6
1 win, 2 draws (5 points)
Of all the decks I evaluated, I had Swamp, Pharika's Chosenx2, Snuff Out as one of the worst, but it would have done really well in this meta with all these growth threats.
I expected to see more removal (especially Lava Dart) and less people just trying to make the biggest threat possible.
FTW vs Moosedog
Me - Sands [F=21]
You - Skirge #1 [M=18]
Me - Scout
You - Skirge #2 [M=16] & Attack for 1 [M=17, F=20]
Me - Cartouche #1. Attack for 2 [M=15]
You - Bolt the 1/1 token. Attack for 2 [M=17, F=18]
Me - Cartouche #2. Attack for 3 [M=14]
You - Attack for 2 [M=16, F=16]
Me - Attack for 4 [M=12]
You - Attack for 2 [M=14, F=14]
...
Me - Attack for 4 [M=2]
You - Attack for 2 [M=4, F=4]
Me - Attack for 4 [M=0]
I win this race on the play. You win on the draw.
H: Mountain, Satyr Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Mark of Fury
1. Asthereal (TO): Ancient Spring, Quicksand, Errant Ephemeron, Oblivion Ring
Lets see what happens when I am on the Play:
T1 H: Mountain, Crusader. (I go here because going big will just get the Hoplite exiled.)
T1 A: Quicksand.
T2 H: Play Mark, make token, attack with just the token [T=1]. I think Quicksanding here is a bad idea, since it cuts you off Ring. Mark returns back to hand. [A=19]
T2 A: Spring. You need to Suspend here, so [EE=4].
T3 H: Play Mark [T=2], since Quicksand it tapped, attack with two tokens and Crusader, [A=16]. Return Mark to hand.
T3 A: [EE=3], you can ring the Crusader now, so lets see how that goes. Ring on Crusader, pass.
T4 H: Play Hoplite. Attack with two tokens, [A=14], pass.
T4 A: [EE=2] hold up Quicksand.
T5 H: Mark on Hoplite [Hop=2], only attack with two tokens. I am not sure about using the Quicksand here, but it might be best, since it next turn it won't stop Hoplite. So, lets say take 1, [A=15] Mark returns to hand.
T5 A: [EE=1], pass.
T6 H: Mark on Hopelite [Hop=3], attack for 4, [A=11].
T6 A: [EE=0] cast Ephemeron. It has haste, but you can't race, so hold up.
T7 H: Mark on Hopelite [Hop=4], now I can swing away, since if you trade the Ephemeron, you lose to the token. But, thinking about it, I think it would be best to hold the Quicksand for when you could block. But even so, you can't win the race, so I think I win in any case on the Play.
Now, on the Draw, lets see. In fact, thinking about it, it might be "best" to build Hoplite into the Ring, then go wide though. Lets try that here on the Draw.
T1 A: Quicksand, pass.
T1 H: Hoplite, pass.
T2 A: Spring, suspend [EE=4].
T2 H: Mark, [Hop=2] attack, [A=18], Mark back to hand, pass.
T3 A: [EE=3] Ring Hoplite, pass.
T3 H: Crusader, pass.
T4 A: [EE=2], pass.
T4 H: Mark Crusader, [T=1], attack with just the token because of Quicksand, Mark back to hand [A=17].
T5 A: [EE=1], pass.
T5 H: Mark Crusader, [T=2], attack with just tokens again, [A=15], Mark back to hand.
T6 A: [EE=0] cast Ephemeron. You have me on a 5 turn clock. But I think I can race that. Blocking won't get you a win though, so lets see if you can win the race, [H=16]
T6 H: Still can't attack with Crusader, so Mark it, [T=3] attack, [A=12], Mark back to hand, pass.
T7 A: Attack with EE, [H=12], pass.
T7 H: Mark Crusader. [T=4], attack with just Tokens, [A=8], Mark back to hand, pass.
T8 A: Attack with EE, [H=8], pass.
T9 H: Mark Crusader. [T=5], attack with just Tokens, [A=3], Mark back to hand, pass. So it seems I can win the race. So, I think maybe I win both games. It might even work out better for me if I lead with Crusader. Not sure.
I'll tentatively give myself a 6-0.
2. Tylert: Vault Skirge, Slippery Bogle, Forest, Forced Adaptation
I can't beat Lifelink that grows and is Flying. 0-6
3. alphastryk: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Savage Swipe
OK, on the Play:
T1 H: Mountain, Hoplite, pass.
T1 A: Suspend Baloth [B1=5], pass.
T2 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=2], attack, [A=18], Mark back to hand, pass.
T2 A: [B1=4], suspend second Baloth [B2=5], pass.
T3 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=3], attack, [A=15], Mark back to hand, pass.
T3 A: [B1=3], suspend second Baloth [B2=4], pass.
T4 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=4], attack, [A=11], Mark back to hand, pass.
T4 A: [B1=2], suspend second Baloth [B2=3], pass.
T5 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=5], attack, [A=6], Mark back to hand, pass.
T5 A: [B1=1], suspend second Baloth [B2=2], pass. So we see here that Baloths will not arrive in time to fight the Hoplite and kill it, so I should win on the Play.
Now, on the Draw:
T1 A: Suspend Baloth [B1=5], pass.
T1 H: Mountain, Hoplite, pass.
T2 A: [B1=4], suspend second Baloth [B2=5], pass.
T2 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=2], attack, [A=18], Mark back to hand, pass.
T3 A: [B1=3], suspend second Baloth [B2=4], pass.
T3 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=3], attack, [A=15], Mark back to hand, pass.
T4 A: [B1=2], suspend second Baloth [B2=3], pass.
T4 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=4], attack, [A=11], Mark back to hand, pass.
T5 A: [B1=1], suspend second Baloth [B2=2], pass.
T5 H: Mark Hoplite [Hop=5], attack, [A=6], Mark back to hand, pass.
T6 A: [B1=0] cat Baloth. [B2=1]. You can swing [H=15], then fight the Hoplite, but trade in the process. However, you have to, because waiting means you can't ever remove it and it will eventually outgrow even two Baloths. So, you fight and trade.
T7 H: Cast Crusader, pass.
T8 A: [B2=0] cast Baloth. You can't race though, since you have me on a 3 turn clock in theory, but I can actually make a chump blocker every turn while poking for 1. If you hold up though, you still lose, since I can just make 7 tokens and attack through.
So, looks like a 6-0 for me?
4. Wrath of Pie: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Lush Growth
See above, on the Play and the Draw, I don't think you can race me. 6-0?
5. Moosedog: Mountain, Vault Skirge, Vault Skirge, Lightning Bolt
I can't actually race Lifelink and removal. 0-6
6. H: Bye, myself.
7. silkster: Island, Viscerid Deepwalker, Sea's claim, Unsummon
I can't beat Sea's Claim. 0-6
8. FTW: Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Cartouche of Solidarity, Cartouche of Solidarity
I think I can out-grow this, first by going big, then by growing wide. 6-0
Last edited by H; 05-20-2020 at 11:39 AM.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
If i use forced adaptation on skirge, , you exile skirge, not adaptation :) so I use it on boggle (see below).
1. Asthereal (TO): Ancient Spring, Quicksand, Errant Ephemeron, Oblivion Ring
2. Tylert: Vault Skirge, Slippery Bogle, Forest, Forced Adaptation
3. alphastryk: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Savage Swipe
4. Wrath of Pie: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Lush Growth
5. Moosedog: Mountain, Vault Skirge, Vault Skirge, Lightning Bolt
6. H: Mountain, Satyr Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Mark of Fury
7. silkster: Island, Viscerid Deepwalker, Sea's claim, Unsummon
8. FTW: Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Cartouche of Solidarity, Cartouche of Solidarity
1. Asthereal: OTP: T1 = Boggle, skirge (M18). Ancient spring.
T2 = Adaptation on Boggle, attack (M19 Y18). Quicksand. suspend ephemeron.
T3 = Boggle 2/2, attack (Y16). E3, Oring Adapatation.
T4 = att (Y14). E2.
T5 = att Y12. E1.
T6 = att Y10. Ephemeron. You need 7 attacks to kill me because i have a blocker that will gain me 1 life and i have only 5 to kill you so draw.
OTD: I need one more attack, but I still win. 2-2 --> 2
2. Me.
3. Alphastryk: OTP: T1 = Forest, Boggle, skirge (M18). forest, suspend baloth (B5)
T2 = Adaptation on Boggle, att (Y18, M19). B4, B5.
T3 = Bo1, att (Y15 M20). B3, B4.
T4 = Bo2, att (Y11, M21). B2, B3.
T5 = Bo3, att (Y6, M22). B1, B2.
T6 = Bo4, att (Y1, M23). Baloth, B1, Savage swipe on Skirge.
T7 = Bo5, att, chump. Baloth.
T8 = Bo6, att, chump.
OTD: T1 = Forest, Baloth (B5). Forest, Boggle, skirge (M18).
T2 = B4, Baloth (B5). Adaptation on Boggle, att Y18 M19.
T3 = B3, B4. Bo1, att Y15 M20.
T4 = B2, B3. Bo2, att Y11 M21.
T5 = B1, B2. Bo3, att Y6 M22.
T6 = Baloth, B1 savage swipe on skirge (M23), att M17. Bo4, att Y1.
T7 = From this point you can't attack with both and I can't attack until i'm 11/11 but will win the long run. 6-0 --> 8
4. Wrath of Pie: Forced adaptation on skirge wins both games as lush growth doesn't do anything to me. 6-0 --> 14
5. Moosedog: OTP: T1 = Forest, boggle, skirge (M18). Mountain, bolt on skirge, double skirge (Y16).
T2 = adaptation on boggle. Att M16 Y18.
T3 = Bo1, att Y16 M16. Att M14 Y18.
T4 = Bo2, att Y15 M14. Att M12 Y17.
T5 = Bo3, att Y13 M12. Att M10 Y15.
T6 = Bo4, att Y10 M10. Att M8 Y12.
T7 = Bo5, att Y6 M8. Att M6 Y8.
T8 = Bo6, att Y1 M6. Att M5 Y2.
T9 = Bo7, att chump Y3.
T10 = Win.
OTD: Even OTD I should grow fast enough to race 2 vault skirges. 6-0 --> 20
6. H: I think I can stay at home with Forced adaptation on vault skirge until it is a 20/20 while blocking and gaining life and attack once for the win OTP and OTD. 6-0 --> 26
7. Silkster: OTP: T1 = Forest, boggle, skirge (M18). Island sea's claim.
T2 = Att Y18 M19. Suspend Deepwalker, D4.
T3 = Att Y16 M20. D3, unsummon.
T4 = Att Y15, skirge M18. D2.
T5 = Att Y13 M19. D1.
T6 = Att Y11 M20. Viscerid. From this point, you deal 3 damage per turn, I deal 2 and gets 1 back. If you stay in defense, I win, if you attack I win.
OTD, It should be the same thing. you should have played ephemeron for the draw. 6-0 --> 32
8. FTW: Here, forced adaptation on Vault skirge should be enough to win OTP and OTD. 6-0 --> 38.
Total 38, not bad...
EDIT: I did not redo the math where I have to cast skirge (instead of just paying 2 life) but anyways, everyone seems to agree with me. so 38 it is.
Last edited by Tylert; 05-20-2020 at 06:57 PM.
4. Wrath of Pie: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Lush Growth
1. Asthereal (TO): Ancient Spring, Quicksand, Errant Ephemeron, Oblivion Ring WW
2. Tylert: Vault Skirge, Slippery Bogle, Forest, Forced Adaptation LL
3. alphastryk: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Savage Swipe DD
5. Moosedog: Mountain, Vault Skirge, Vault Skirge, Lightning Bolt WW
6. H: Mountain, Satyr Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Mark of Fury LL - Pretty sure you can keep Baloths at bay by the time they come off suspend, then you grow Hoplite forever.
7. silkster: Island, Viscerid Deepwalker, Sea's claim, Unsummon DD - We never play our lands, which leads to the ultimate staring contest.
8. FTW: Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Cartouche of Solidarity, Cartouche of Solidarity WW - You can handle one Baloth, but not two of them.
6w4d = 22 points
Surprised no one went for reanimator w/Ulamog's Crusher, the pieces are there and that is the main reason I played Lush Growth.
@Tylert: You can't cast Vault Skirge and Slippery Bogle with only one mana.
My evaluation was that having to use a 4 cost white reanimation spell (Breath of Life or Resurrection) just made the deck too slow / the mana not work, but that might be wrong.
You mean 2 cost Exhume.
Doh. My Scryfall search somehow excluded that. I guess because it didn't include the word "return" and uses "puts" instead.
In that case, something like Swamp, Dark Ritual, Putrid Imp, Exhume seems like a great deck.
I edited that I think maybe I win both vs. Alphastryk and Wrath, but definitely need to be double checked there.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
That doesn't do anything, you need something to discard to Putrid Imp otherwise Exhume is a blank, so you have to go with Peat Bog as the mana. (Invasion saclands are an option for alternate discard outlets, but the concept is still the same.)
Dies to Snuff Out or Duress. I really expected to see more decks with removal, hence Bogles.
Striped Riverwinder with Ancient Spring is another way to beat removal, but you lose Annihilator against deathtouch blockers.
Me: silkster: Island, Viscerid Deepwalker, Sea's Claim, Unsummon
1. Asthereal (TO): Ancient Spring, Quicksand, Errant Ephemeron, Oblivion Ring
The other almost-same deck I wanted to play would have actually made a difference here: Swamp, Snuff Out, Evil Presence, Corpulent Corpse. I get damage in, but can't finish the job. 2 points
2. Tylert: Vault Skirge, Slippery Bogle, Forest, Forced Adaptation
You get to cast Bogle and then Skirge. I play Claim first, suspend second, Unsummon third. After 6 turns, I've taken 2 from Bogle and 4 from Skirge. You've taken 3 from Deepwaker, 2 life paid, 4 life gained. 19-14. In 13 turns, I'll be at 1, and you'll be at 19+13 - 3*13 = dead. Close enough that I wasn't sure how that was going to go as I was doing it. 6 points
lol, Bogle has an ability! After suspend, I reach the point where we are trading 2 damage for 2 damage, but you start way in the lead.
I needed my first draft of a deck here: Island, Viscerid Deepwalker, Sea's claim, Daze. 0 points
3. alphastryk: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Savage Swipe
For a long time I had Daze instead of Unsummon. Durkwood Baloth is the exact reason I changed. 6 points
4. Wrath of Pie: Forest, Durkwood Baloth, Durkwood Baloth, Lush Growth
The greatest of all staring contests. I like how much play/draw doesn't matter, cause turn 1 is pass. 2 points
5. Moosedog: Mountain, Vault Skirge, Vault Skirge, Lightning Bolt
Vault Skirge wasn't on my radar. I had Lava Dart as an early option, but I couldn't actually find anything that it answered. Daze too. You play out the Skirges and they gain life too efficiently for me to race, even if suspend was spontaneous. 0 points
6. H: Mountain, Satyr Hoplite, Akroan Crusader, Mark of Fury
This is just the type of deck I was hoping to lock out. 6 points
8. FTW: Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Cartouche of Solidarity, Cartouche of Solidarity
This one too. 6 points
3 WW, 2DD, 2LL
22 points
Playing the Daze variant would have been -2+6-6-2+6+0+0 = +2
Playing the equivalent Black Deck would have been +4+0+0+0+0+0+0 =+4
I made the worst of all the choices I was considering. I thought there might have been some fast mana into big early threat deck, even though I couldn't find that threat myself. Oops.
Unsummon seems better in general. Does the black version have Snuff Out over bounce? Unfortunately then you lose really hard to black decks (both Evil Presence and Snuff Out are dead).
The fast threat decks I had were stuff like these:
Ancient Den, Lotus Petal, Glint Hawk, Glint Hawk
4-power flying on turn 1 kills on turn 6, racing all the slow suspend and vertical growth clocks.
Swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Prowling Pangolin/Stromkirk Patrol
Both kill on turn 5 (before Baloth resolves), but die to Duress or removal or a single Pharika's Chosen
There's also Reanimator.
Because of all the explosive fast decks, I underestimated how many people would play slow Suspend threats or Voltron without removal. The decks I dismissed were all better than the one I submitted.
Yeah, Snuff Out over Unsummon. It turned out that all of the black creatures were colorless costed anyway, so they're almost equally impotent. I liked Unsummon for being able to protect the Deepwalker, even though it slows me down.
Yeah, I just didn't think of Glint Hawk, I guess. I haven't run all the numbers, but it looks like Glint Hawks would have done quite well this week, actually.
I was hoping for single threats with some kind of control aspect, but that was too much to hope for in a common. I tried Reanimator and also Tron/Cloudpost, but all of those strategies just lost to Sea's Claim or Evil Presence, and I couldn't justify that vulnerability.
That is a risk to take, but removal tends to be weak to hexproof threats, and not much else can handle a Crusher.
Hilariously enough, Daze wouldn't even come up on a Pauper search filter, because it is banned in Pauper. (Not here though, we can handle it just fine.)
Is Vapor Snag worse than Unsummon?
I was thinking that I would bounce my own creature on defense sometimes. For example, against Swamp, Snuff Out, Cruel Sadist, I can suspend the Walker, wait for it to land, then bounce to protect it from Snuff Out, then Sea's Claim the Swamp and later replay the Deepwalker to win. I figured that I would either have my Island and always hit for 3, or not have my Island and always hit for 2, so in neither case would 1 damage help me kill. But I didn't know how people would be damaging me, so I went with Unsummon.
I think they're basically indistinguishable, but neither is strictly better because I might bounce my own stuff.
Man, I made so many searches for commons, and I even considered Blossoming Sands, Gladecover Scout, Rancor, Ethereal Armor, but somehow I never found Forced Adaptation. I don't think I would have thought to combine it with Vault Skirge though. The beauty of a Plan A against powerful threats and a Plan B against decks with removal all wrapped up in 4 cards is beautiful.
I really thought I was going to crush it this week. Then those darn bugs came out of nowhere.
As for next week, I expect a lot of deck diversity and I have no idea what will be good. I think it'll be the silliest of rounds, and I'm both looking forward to it and already dreading the regret of a poor decision.
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