biglongjohns
02-29-2016, 01:32 PM
Just got back from SCG Philly and played Painter to a 6-3 finish losing my last round and just missing Day Two. I had a lot of fun playing the deck and will continue to Moon people for as long as greedy mana bases exist in Legacy. Here is my decklist followed by my tournament report.
MAINDECK:
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Goblin Welder
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter's Servant
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pyroblast
4 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Lotus Petal
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Grindstone
1 Great Furnace
2 Plateau
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mountain
SIDEBOARD:
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Trinisphere
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Manic Vandal
1 Rest in Peace
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Firebolt
2 Pyrokinesis
Round 1 vs Infect: 2-1
G1 he killed me around turn four while I didn't do much. G2 T1 I played Tomb then Painter on Blue and he casts something irrelevant. T2 I lay Great Furnace and Lotus Petal followed by Grindstone and an activation. G3 he casts Blighted Agent and I blast on my turn to avoid Daze. He casts another and I blast again on my turn. I stick a Blood Moon but he has a Forest and a Noble. I eventually land a Trinisphere and an EE on 1. He Grips the 3Ball for some reason instead of Moon and I eventually combo kill him.
Round 2 vs Big Red: 2-0
G1 I drew the right cards and he lost. At one point he had a Chalice on 1 and a Chrome Mox and I played EE on zero Which prevented him from casting anything else that game besides and eventual Blood Moon. :) I beat down with Revoker naming Sneak Attack and some other dudes. G2 I remember he had a Trinisphere and I had a Welder. He eventually lands a Chalice on 1 and also has a Chrome Mox. I had EE for zero again and locked him under his own Trinisphere and eventually cast Koth and started attacking with Plateau and eventually Painter+Blasted his two basic mountains.
Round 3 vs BUG Delver
G1 I'm on the play and stick a T1 Blood Moon and he scoops without showing me a card. He could've been on several different decks, but the fact that he scooped without even trying to draw a basic or Mox Diamond or anything led me to believe he was on some sort of 3 Color Delver deck. He also had a DRS playmat so I went with that. I sided minimally, Manic Vandal and something else. G2 I remember him having DRS Goyf and Delver at one point with no access to green mana besides DRS exiling a land. Meanwhile I had two Painters on Blue and a Welder. I was able to stall long enough with Painter blocking and dying and eventually blocking with other Painter and welding for other Painter to fog the Goyf. Next turn I combo killed him with Blast backup before he could kill me.
Round 4 vs Grixis Delver: 1-2
This opponent eventually went on to win the Open. I don't remember the details of G1 very well besides not drawing Blood Moon game one and losing that one. G2 I played Blood Moon T1 and attacked with little dudes til he was dead. G3 I had him locked under an Ensnaring Bridge with a Grindstone out. He had Pyromancer with several tokens and a Delver. He was using cantrips to try and find his out while I was in topdeck mode. I eventually decide to try and start naturally milling him out since he could draw a DRS or some form of artifact destruction sooner than I can draw the kill and resolve it through his hand of FOW+blue card. After milling him down to around 20 cards left I mill away his singleton Ancient Grudge and then lose after he flashes it back on my Bridge. Maybe I should have thought of Grudge but I'm not too familiar with the sideboards of Grixis Delver. I am now. Never saw a Blood Moon that game, by the way.
Round 5 vs Esper Miracles splashing green for Abrupt Decay: 2-0
G1 I landed a Blood Moon in the first couple turns before he could land a threat and he scooped. G2 went a few turns before I cast Recruiter fetching Moon Man and cast it in that same turn off my second Tomb and an exiled Guide. He scooped. I'm all for brewing and trying different card choices in established decks, but I've always thought the main appeal of Miracles is a steady mana base. When the mana base gets greedy you lose to Blood Moon.
Round 6 vs Shardless BUG: 2-0
G1 I mull to 6 and see a potential T2 Blood Moon. I lay Plateau and pass and he plays land and passes. I lay City and jam Blood Moon and he scoops. G2 he lays land and passes and I jam a T1 Blood Moon and he scoops. I think he should have mulled to T1 discard spell of FOW+blue card. Respect the Moon!
Round 7 vs Lands: 0-2
My opponent eventually made it into Top 8. I recognized his name but couldn't quite place what deck he normally plays. I've recently built a Lands deck which is why I recognized his name cuz he's top 8'd events before. If only I had've made that connection sooner cuz I would have mulliganned more aggressively to find Moon. By the time I saw Blood Moon in G1 it was too late and he floated GB to Abrupt Decay my Moon. G1 was long with a Bridge on my side and no action from him. I knew I couldn't win G1 while sitting behind Bridge but he was playing a new build of Lands and I wanted to see more of the deck. He eventually drew Molten Vortex and I scooped. G2 I mulled to five and all I have in my notes is "lose miserably". I remember he ported me off casting anything and I eventually lost. I liked his build of Lands. He ditched Manabond and Punishing Fire for 3x Molten Vortex and 3x Abrupt Decay to shore up some of the tougher matchups (such as mine when I draw a Moon effect).
Round 8 vs Eldrazi: 2-1
This was my first time ever playing against this deck. I've glanced at some lists and get the gist of it, but I'm not super familiar with all of the cards. After glancing at the other matches around me, I quickly realized that the X-2 bracket is where this deck was hanging out. G1 he curves out perfectly and kills me quickly. G2 I cast Moon on T1 and he scoops. G3 I remember casting Blood Moon when he only had nonbasics in play. All he could cast after that was a Mimic and a Jitte. I was able to prevent the Jitte from killing my Painter and I'm pretty sure I used Manic Vandal to destroy his Chalice on 1 and eventually combo killed him. After the game he said he needed a Warping Wail but I pointed out that it couldn't be cast. :)
Round 9 vs Eldrazi: 1-2
This match will be the longest section of this tournament report. I sat right next to this guy last round so each of us knew what each other was on. All of his Eldrazi were in a foreign language so that certainly didn't help me when I'm already somewhat unfamiliar with the new cards. G1 he was on the play and cast Chalice on zero followed by Chalice on one. Yeesh. I realized quickly my out was Ensnaring Bridge so I started prepping to stall out until I could land a Bridge. He was attacking me with a vanilla 3/3 and eventually laid a Revoker on something that didn't matter very much cuz I couldn't combo him in this game. I had one creature out and was at 1 and he attacked with only one guy instead of attacking for the kill. I pointed that out and he was embarrassed and I ripped a Bridge off the top for rub-ins. Hah! I know he doesn't have a way to remove the Bridge G1 so we stall out for a while. He eventually lands Chalice on 2 as well as Chalice on 3. Woof. I have one card in hand which is E Tutor, which I can't cast under my Blood Moon and I know it's only a matter time before I draw a REB or my second Tutor. We eventually count cards left in deck and I concede. I forget a lot of details about G2 but I remember having a Blood Moon and he revoked Jaya Ballard when it wasn't on the board and I revoked Ratchet Bomb so my artifacts wouldn't be in danger. I was eventually able to destroy his T1 Chalice and combo kill him. G3 was hairy. He casts a T1 Chalice on the play again. Must be nice to always have sol land+Chalice. I cast a T1 Painter naming Blue and he lays a Temple and Casts Thought-Knot Seer. I'm somewhat familiar with the card but I ask him if it targets and he said something like "yes, I see your hand and exile a card". I reveal my hand and he exiles my Jaya Ballard. He passes turn and before we take one step further I look at his temple (foreign) and call a judge for the oracle text. We then realize that it only makes colorless Eldrazi spells cost less and they are all blue. Judge rules to reverse board state and gives him a GRV and me a warning. I appeal since I feel that since I had revealed my hand that we were in an irreversible board state since he would know exactly how to play against me that game. Head judge upholds the ruling and I accepted it but the whole interaction put me on tilt a little bit. I should have called for oracle text immediately after he cast the card but I didn't. Stupid gold mana cards!
The next turn I rip a Guide and play a land and exile Guide to cast Jaya Ballard. Hah! He then plays the Endbringer. I call for oracle text immediately and read it but it does many things so I can't remember all the details a couple turns later. I manage to destroy his Chalice on 1 and stick a Grindstone without the mana to activate in the same turn. He tanks for a few minutes and plays a Revoker naming Grindstone. On my turn I tap mountain to destroy the Revoker and tap two Ancient Tombs (putting me to two life) and I activated Grindstone and he mills his library. In my endstep he Tims me and before he can't draw a card in his draw step he Tims me again. Them's the breaks! I allowed myself to tilt during this match that I got tunnel vision and thought I had the win before assessing the entire board state and destroying the pinger. Despite the mishap with the Thought-Knot Seer earlier in the game, I feel that I still lost this game due to my own play errors so I've gotta use this as a learning experience.
So...I ended the day 6-3 for 88th place out of 755 players. Day two was a clear cut of 20 points or greater, which I would have had if I won my last match. Oh well! I ended up having a blast walking around Philly on Sunday and got to watch a little bit of the Vintage tournament.
Thoughts on the deck: Enlightened Tutor didn't perform very well for me at all. I've been back and forth between either cutting down on the white, cutting white entirely, or playing more white and even a basic Plains. After this weekend, I have decided to try Mono Red for a while. There was an interesting build of the deck that made 16th place that I'll base my start around. There is just sooo much Chalice floating around at the moment now that I would rather have fewer one mana spells and more Moon effects. The games I lost felt like they would have been winnable if I had more Moons and had drawn one those matches. If you play this deck or plan to play this deck, my advice to you is to mulligan aggressively when your hand doesn't do enough and play more Moons!
MAINDECK:
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Goblin Welder
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter's Servant
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pyroblast
4 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Lotus Petal
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Grindstone
1 Great Furnace
2 Plateau
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mountain
SIDEBOARD:
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Trinisphere
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Manic Vandal
1 Rest in Peace
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Koth of the Hammer
3 Firebolt
2 Pyrokinesis
Round 1 vs Infect: 2-1
G1 he killed me around turn four while I didn't do much. G2 T1 I played Tomb then Painter on Blue and he casts something irrelevant. T2 I lay Great Furnace and Lotus Petal followed by Grindstone and an activation. G3 he casts Blighted Agent and I blast on my turn to avoid Daze. He casts another and I blast again on my turn. I stick a Blood Moon but he has a Forest and a Noble. I eventually land a Trinisphere and an EE on 1. He Grips the 3Ball for some reason instead of Moon and I eventually combo kill him.
Round 2 vs Big Red: 2-0
G1 I drew the right cards and he lost. At one point he had a Chalice on 1 and a Chrome Mox and I played EE on zero Which prevented him from casting anything else that game besides and eventual Blood Moon. :) I beat down with Revoker naming Sneak Attack and some other dudes. G2 I remember he had a Trinisphere and I had a Welder. He eventually lands a Chalice on 1 and also has a Chrome Mox. I had EE for zero again and locked him under his own Trinisphere and eventually cast Koth and started attacking with Plateau and eventually Painter+Blasted his two basic mountains.
Round 3 vs BUG Delver
G1 I'm on the play and stick a T1 Blood Moon and he scoops without showing me a card. He could've been on several different decks, but the fact that he scooped without even trying to draw a basic or Mox Diamond or anything led me to believe he was on some sort of 3 Color Delver deck. He also had a DRS playmat so I went with that. I sided minimally, Manic Vandal and something else. G2 I remember him having DRS Goyf and Delver at one point with no access to green mana besides DRS exiling a land. Meanwhile I had two Painters on Blue and a Welder. I was able to stall long enough with Painter blocking and dying and eventually blocking with other Painter and welding for other Painter to fog the Goyf. Next turn I combo killed him with Blast backup before he could kill me.
Round 4 vs Grixis Delver: 1-2
This opponent eventually went on to win the Open. I don't remember the details of G1 very well besides not drawing Blood Moon game one and losing that one. G2 I played Blood Moon T1 and attacked with little dudes til he was dead. G3 I had him locked under an Ensnaring Bridge with a Grindstone out. He had Pyromancer with several tokens and a Delver. He was using cantrips to try and find his out while I was in topdeck mode. I eventually decide to try and start naturally milling him out since he could draw a DRS or some form of artifact destruction sooner than I can draw the kill and resolve it through his hand of FOW+blue card. After milling him down to around 20 cards left I mill away his singleton Ancient Grudge and then lose after he flashes it back on my Bridge. Maybe I should have thought of Grudge but I'm not too familiar with the sideboards of Grixis Delver. I am now. Never saw a Blood Moon that game, by the way.
Round 5 vs Esper Miracles splashing green for Abrupt Decay: 2-0
G1 I landed a Blood Moon in the first couple turns before he could land a threat and he scooped. G2 went a few turns before I cast Recruiter fetching Moon Man and cast it in that same turn off my second Tomb and an exiled Guide. He scooped. I'm all for brewing and trying different card choices in established decks, but I've always thought the main appeal of Miracles is a steady mana base. When the mana base gets greedy you lose to Blood Moon.
Round 6 vs Shardless BUG: 2-0
G1 I mull to 6 and see a potential T2 Blood Moon. I lay Plateau and pass and he plays land and passes. I lay City and jam Blood Moon and he scoops. G2 he lays land and passes and I jam a T1 Blood Moon and he scoops. I think he should have mulled to T1 discard spell of FOW+blue card. Respect the Moon!
Round 7 vs Lands: 0-2
My opponent eventually made it into Top 8. I recognized his name but couldn't quite place what deck he normally plays. I've recently built a Lands deck which is why I recognized his name cuz he's top 8'd events before. If only I had've made that connection sooner cuz I would have mulliganned more aggressively to find Moon. By the time I saw Blood Moon in G1 it was too late and he floated GB to Abrupt Decay my Moon. G1 was long with a Bridge on my side and no action from him. I knew I couldn't win G1 while sitting behind Bridge but he was playing a new build of Lands and I wanted to see more of the deck. He eventually drew Molten Vortex and I scooped. G2 I mulled to five and all I have in my notes is "lose miserably". I remember he ported me off casting anything and I eventually lost. I liked his build of Lands. He ditched Manabond and Punishing Fire for 3x Molten Vortex and 3x Abrupt Decay to shore up some of the tougher matchups (such as mine when I draw a Moon effect).
Round 8 vs Eldrazi: 2-1
This was my first time ever playing against this deck. I've glanced at some lists and get the gist of it, but I'm not super familiar with all of the cards. After glancing at the other matches around me, I quickly realized that the X-2 bracket is where this deck was hanging out. G1 he curves out perfectly and kills me quickly. G2 I cast Moon on T1 and he scoops. G3 I remember casting Blood Moon when he only had nonbasics in play. All he could cast after that was a Mimic and a Jitte. I was able to prevent the Jitte from killing my Painter and I'm pretty sure I used Manic Vandal to destroy his Chalice on 1 and eventually combo killed him. After the game he said he needed a Warping Wail but I pointed out that it couldn't be cast. :)
Round 9 vs Eldrazi: 1-2
This match will be the longest section of this tournament report. I sat right next to this guy last round so each of us knew what each other was on. All of his Eldrazi were in a foreign language so that certainly didn't help me when I'm already somewhat unfamiliar with the new cards. G1 he was on the play and cast Chalice on zero followed by Chalice on one. Yeesh. I realized quickly my out was Ensnaring Bridge so I started prepping to stall out until I could land a Bridge. He was attacking me with a vanilla 3/3 and eventually laid a Revoker on something that didn't matter very much cuz I couldn't combo him in this game. I had one creature out and was at 1 and he attacked with only one guy instead of attacking for the kill. I pointed that out and he was embarrassed and I ripped a Bridge off the top for rub-ins. Hah! I know he doesn't have a way to remove the Bridge G1 so we stall out for a while. He eventually lands Chalice on 2 as well as Chalice on 3. Woof. I have one card in hand which is E Tutor, which I can't cast under my Blood Moon and I know it's only a matter time before I draw a REB or my second Tutor. We eventually count cards left in deck and I concede. I forget a lot of details about G2 but I remember having a Blood Moon and he revoked Jaya Ballard when it wasn't on the board and I revoked Ratchet Bomb so my artifacts wouldn't be in danger. I was eventually able to destroy his T1 Chalice and combo kill him. G3 was hairy. He casts a T1 Chalice on the play again. Must be nice to always have sol land+Chalice. I cast a T1 Painter naming Blue and he lays a Temple and Casts Thought-Knot Seer. I'm somewhat familiar with the card but I ask him if it targets and he said something like "yes, I see your hand and exile a card". I reveal my hand and he exiles my Jaya Ballard. He passes turn and before we take one step further I look at his temple (foreign) and call a judge for the oracle text. We then realize that it only makes colorless Eldrazi spells cost less and they are all blue. Judge rules to reverse board state and gives him a GRV and me a warning. I appeal since I feel that since I had revealed my hand that we were in an irreversible board state since he would know exactly how to play against me that game. Head judge upholds the ruling and I accepted it but the whole interaction put me on tilt a little bit. I should have called for oracle text immediately after he cast the card but I didn't. Stupid gold mana cards!
The next turn I rip a Guide and play a land and exile Guide to cast Jaya Ballard. Hah! He then plays the Endbringer. I call for oracle text immediately and read it but it does many things so I can't remember all the details a couple turns later. I manage to destroy his Chalice on 1 and stick a Grindstone without the mana to activate in the same turn. He tanks for a few minutes and plays a Revoker naming Grindstone. On my turn I tap mountain to destroy the Revoker and tap two Ancient Tombs (putting me to two life) and I activated Grindstone and he mills his library. In my endstep he Tims me and before he can't draw a card in his draw step he Tims me again. Them's the breaks! I allowed myself to tilt during this match that I got tunnel vision and thought I had the win before assessing the entire board state and destroying the pinger. Despite the mishap with the Thought-Knot Seer earlier in the game, I feel that I still lost this game due to my own play errors so I've gotta use this as a learning experience.
So...I ended the day 6-3 for 88th place out of 755 players. Day two was a clear cut of 20 points or greater, which I would have had if I won my last match. Oh well! I ended up having a blast walking around Philly on Sunday and got to watch a little bit of the Vintage tournament.
Thoughts on the deck: Enlightened Tutor didn't perform very well for me at all. I've been back and forth between either cutting down on the white, cutting white entirely, or playing more white and even a basic Plains. After this weekend, I have decided to try Mono Red for a while. There was an interesting build of the deck that made 16th place that I'll base my start around. There is just sooo much Chalice floating around at the moment now that I would rather have fewer one mana spells and more Moon effects. The games I lost felt like they would have been winnable if I had more Moons and had drawn one those matches. If you play this deck or plan to play this deck, my advice to you is to mulligan aggressively when your hand doesn't do enough and play more Moons!