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miko
02-06-2012, 08:01 AM
I always wanted to give "Robin" a try.
Since Grove became cheaper due to its recent banning in Modern I just bought a playset (like 7-8 dollars a Grove). So what should I use my new Groves of the Burnwillows for?
At first I thought about GWr/Maverick and searched for some missing cards till I completed the list. But I did not like it a lot. You do not have counters, no Force of Will, no Brainstorm, no blue at all.
On this very Thursday I found an interesting Robin-list on TCDecks. Since I was very excited about the deck as it made Top8 in some consecutive tourney a few months ago, I just gave it a try.

This is the list. I cope and pasted it:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=7523&iddeck=54634

I just changed the sideboard:
- 2 Flusterstorm - 1 Mindbreak Trap - 1 Krosan Grip
+ 1 Tormod's Crypt, + 1 Red Elemental Blast + 1 Spell Pierce + 1 Ancient Grudge

So I went to the local tournament and bought Bloodbraids as well as Punishing Fire. We were about 27 players. The meta consisted of about 3-5 Rug-Tempos, 4-5 Maverick and some other good to random decks.

1st round: RUG-Delver:

This matchup is not easy I have to say. Punishing Fire takes down Delver of Secrets, even Tarmogoyf, but I cannot deal with Nimble Mongoose.

Game 1:
I had a lot of lands in my starting 7 and just suspend Ancestral Visions. He has to use his Stifles for my fetchlands and/or Clique takes away his last counter before Visions resolve. I find another Visions and Bloodbraid Elf. There is still one Brainstorm in my hand. Clique blocks his Mongoose, Bloodbraid Elf cascades into three new cards - good game.

Boarding: - 4 Force of Will - 4 Lightning Bolts
+ 2 Engineered Explosives 4 REB 2 Spell Pierce

Game 2:

I loose because he can kill my Noble Hierarch and wast my nonbasics. Afterwards he just plays some Mongooses and I can't do nothing about it.

Game 3:

I have enough lands, I pierce his cantrips, he finds no creatures - good game.

2:1
1-0-0

Round 2: Rug-Delver

Again! Pretty much the same as in game one 2:1 for me.
Bloodbraid Elf into Visions happens like 2-3 teams in each match - at least! Sometimes she even finds some friends like Goyf or even better: Ooze!
That's just too good.

2:1
2-0-0

Round 3: Enchantress

A very bad match up. I only have 4 Counterspells first game and can add 3 Spell Pierce as well as 1 Krosan Grip. Against Replenish I board in 2 Crypts, too.
I boarded out: 3 Punishing Fire 3 Lightning Bolt
Best card in this match up: Clique. It flies over his Moat, takes away some very annoying enchantments and hits for 3-5 (exalted!).

Game 1:
I win this game because this start: Grove of Burnwillows, Noble Hierarch. (I want to bait, because I have a Force in my hand.) Next turn I play another Grove and attack. He uses his second turn to play Enchantress's Presence from his two lands and Wild Growth. I force. He thought I would play Maverick and did not expect the Force. I win this game by hitting him for 5 damage a turn (exalted Clique) and/or using burn.

Game 2:

I loose because I cannot counter his Enchantments.

Game 3:
This game is very exciting. I have no flying creatures but lethal damage on board. He goes for Moat - which I cannot counter. But I have Engineered Explosives in my hand. And: I can play it for 4 because of Noble Hierarch. I pass the turn with only one mana open. He uses his turn to Oblivion Ring my EE - I sight and use my Brainstorm in response. I need either Clique (flies over Moat), Force of Will, or Engineered Explosives. Lucky me finds Engineered Explosives. I show it to him, he concedes.

2:1
3-0-0

Match 4: GWr Maverick

I think this is a very difficult match-up because I am not really able to handle his Knight of the Reliquary. So I loose 1:2. The games very pretty close, that is why I do not remember any of them.

1:2
3-1-0

Match 4: GWr Maverick

Again! Last match for today. We have decided to have a pricesplit. If I have a higher op-score I will concede if he has the higher one he will concede. He is in a better position so I concede. But we still play.

Game 1:
He goes for first turn Hierarch. I bolt it. He plays Zenith for 0. I fire his manland and pass the turn. He goes for Stoneforge and I guess it was batterskull. I use Grove to get back my fire, kill his Stoneforge and pass the turn again. He doesn't play anything due to not having three lands. I decide to play Jace and fateseal him. No land for him.
Next turn I brainstorm (I had one in my hand) and put Ancient Visions second from top, play my own Hierarch and say go. He still has no land because of my Jace. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Visions, attack for 4 and win this game.

Second game is the same like game 2.

4-1-0 (real score: 3-2)

Thoughts and opinions:
Very nice deck. I really enjoyed playing it and think that I definitely has potential. Turn 3 Bloodbraid or Jace is just sooo good. Or turn two Clique!
Bloodbraid usually is a must-counter as well as Jace. So you can bait your ops.

What I would change:
Maindeck is OK:
3 Jace, the Mindsulptor
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Punishing Fire
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Lighning Bolt
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Mountain
2 Island
1 Forest
3 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Grove of the Burnwillows


Sideboard:

Old Board:
3 Spellpierce
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Tormods Crypt
1 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast

New one:
I do not need Mindbreak Trap since we do not see a lot of Combo in our meta. If I were going to a big tourney, I would add them again. But since it is not the case...:
3 Spellpierce
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Tormods Crypt
1 Krosan Grip
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast

I would choose to play Jitte instead. Because it is so good against Maverick and other creature decks. Since you play 16 creatures and have Clique it is just too good to be missing in your 75 cards.

Hope you like that deck.

Prices: I was in 8th place my last round op 3rd. He got a Plateau (revised), I a Misty Rainforest. So I guess that's OK.

entity
02-06-2012, 12:59 PM
Pretty nice.
I tested almost the same list with minor changes (put it together without knowing that exact decklist):
-2 Jace
-4 Noble
-2 Ooze
-1 Clique

+1 Bloodbraid
+4 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Dismember
+2 Umezawa's Jitte
and slightly different manabase.

The reasons for these inclusions: Dismember deals with KotR and others, Lavamancer beats aggro (and I would hate to cascade into Noble Hierarch, although Hierarch's acceleration seems quite important and maybe THE part which my build was lacking). Jitte MD solves all kinds of problems - it's removal, creature combat enhancer and lifegain all in one, so having two maindeck seemed quite useful.

miko
02-06-2012, 01:25 PM
I think you do not need Lavamancer since you have Punishing Fire. Umezawa's Jitte is in my opinion an interesting inclusion main. But I think that I do not have enough room for it. I would definitely play Ooze just because of its pure strength. It wins again Knight of the Reliquary removes opposing Punishing Fires and is pretty strong against Dredge which might be on the rise again.
Dismember is in my opinion not much stronger than two Punishing Fire in one turn. As soon as you reach like 5 mana (one Grove) you will be able to deal at least 4 damage. Dismember usually is not enough to kill Knight - Ooze is...

Did your list do well?

entity
02-07-2012, 06:01 PM
My last had no testing in tournaments higher than a weekly work-day-evening-Legacy, so I can't say much. However, I do agree that Lavamancers are unnecessary, even though this was a concession to quite aggro-ish local metagame. Jitte, however was great when I had it.
Dismember I started to dislike quite fast - it didn't do enough for the price, and I agree on dropping it for something more useful.

Waikiki
02-08-2012, 04:43 AM
I feel the blue count is so low.

miko
02-08-2012, 06:37 AM
Yes it is. It's like 18 cards. That sometimes is not enough. But it is OK. Btw. you can cast your FoW without removing cards very soon.
18 usually is OK.
3 jace + 3 Clique + 4 Force + 4 Brainstorm + 4 Visions. That's Ok.

DerFern
02-08-2012, 10:46 AM
I always wanted to give "Robin" a try.
Match 4: GWr Maverick

Again! Last match for today. We have decided to have a pricesplit. If I have a higher op-score I will concede if he has the higher one he will concede. He is in a better position so I concede. But we still play.

wow, looks like textbook bribery there... anyway, deck looks to be fun and the report is well written.

zerzab11
02-08-2012, 01:43 PM
This deck is so cool. Nice report aswell Bernd. Bloodbraid Elf into Visions must be nice ;) Did you ever cascade in a second Clique? Or don't you cascade into unknown cards with a Clique on the table?

Greetings Johannes

miko
02-08-2012, 02:44 PM
wow, looks like textbook bribery there... anyway, deck looks to be fun and the report is well written.

Hm. That might be true. I guess we should not do things like that again.

Usually you should have a look at your top three if you want to play Bloodbraid. For two reasons: You want to find a very good card. Secondly, you do not want to hit a card that is bad for you. So usually I do not play Bloodbraid if I have Clique on board.
But sometimes you just have to do risky plays. Usually you won't hit a second Clique. But it could happen.

Even if you do not hit Visions its worth to play Bloodbraid. There is only one card that is not worth cascading into: Hierarch. All the other cards are good to perfect. You want to have a 3/2 haste creature AND a Tarmogoyf (usually 3/4 or 4/5) for four mana? There you are.
Most of the times Bloodbraid is a must-counter

Jim Higginbottom
02-09-2012, 12:48 AM
You can choose not to cast spells you cascade into.

miko
03-07-2012, 01:38 PM
This deck is really incredible. I had three consecutive Top8 performances this months. Local tourney but very competitive ones.
I've got a new sideboard since burn and U/r Delver are performing pretty well at the moment:

2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Trygon Predator
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Surgical Extraction
3Kitchen Finks
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Mind Harness

Two tournaments had 30 participants, one had 50.
I really recommend this deck.