4 Card Blind

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
If nothing goes wrong, turn 1 I play Stylus, turn 2 chancery and starting turn 3 I exile a permanent a turn, lands including. When the board is empty I deal 1 damage per turn with stylus/desert.

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
0-6. Fow > Acid, and faster remaining clock.
0

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
6

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
12

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
18

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
24

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
30

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
0-6. Blackmail > Acid, and faster remaining clock.
30

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
36

10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
42

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
48

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
6-0. Exile your board and kill you.
54

went much better than expected, lost only to FoW and blackmail (or I got something wrong, always possible - although maths are kinda easy when you do not have creatures).

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats

If silkster chose the exact same 4 cards, then I feel better about this last minute choice. I expected people to play around this, but also couldn't find much else that still beat Channel, FoW, Blackmail and other top contenders. Common enchantment kill is a weakness though.


1. Asthereal (TO): Ostracize takes 1 Infiltrator before your land untaps. Then I play Rats. If you suspend the other Infiltrator to race, you can't FoW Affliction and Rats+Affliction races the delayed 3/1. If you don't play Infiltrator, I never cast Affliction and Rats gets there. WW 6-0
2. Karshtakavaar: Ostracize takes Bloodmad Vampire before you can pay Madness. You play a turn 4 Morph. Megaliths kills Rats on turn 5, but by then you've taken enough damage that Affliction races your 2/2+Megaliths. WW 6-0
3. dte: Stylus lets you skip the Vanishing delay, so you're fast enough to kill my Affliction and Rats (T3 & T4) then Scorch me to death. LL 0-6
4. Wrath of Pie: Ostracize takes one Evangel, then the other can't make tokens and rats can trade with Treetop. Rats+Affliction races. WW 6-0
5. GoblinSmashmaster: Ostracize takes Tracer, then Rats+Affliction races or Rats trade with Eldrazi. WW 6-0
6. Reeplcheep: Good tech. Feed kills Affliction and Squirrel Nest beats a single 1/1. LL 0-6
7. alphastryk: Ostracize takes Tracer, then Rats+Affliction races or Rats trade with Eldrazi. WW 6-0
8. H: OTP I play Affliction first. If you Blackmail Ostracize or do nothing, Rats+Affliction races Legionnaire. If you Blackmail Rats, Ostracize takes Legionnaire and turns on Affliction. OTD you Blackmail Affliction. I Ostracize Legionnaire, then win with Rats. WW 6-0
9. maxx!: I play Affliction and you Lush Growth me to prevent my other cards. But then if you play anything else, Affliction races, so you do nothing and draw. DD 2-2
10. silkster: OTP I Ostracize your Rats. From there you have no favorable plays and lose to Affliction+Rats either way. OTD you do the same. WL 3-3
11. Tylert: OTP I Ostracize Chronomaton and play Rats. If you remove it, Affliction wins. OTD Chronomaton comes out first and grows to 10/10 while you hold 2 cards in hand to dodge Affliction. Then once Chrono is big, you remove Rats and race Affliction. WL 3-3

44 (14 wins, 2 draws, 6 losses)

Asthereal's scores for round 6:

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
That's me, thinking this was a good round for FoW. My other deck would have been tons better though. Actually double Infiltrator was surprisingly relevant.
2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
I can FoW one threat but the other is faster than my own. 0-6
3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
This is a really cool deck! Luckily for me, this does actually struggle with FoW.dec. 6-0
4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
I can FoW one Evangel, but that seems dumb. Casting both Infiltrators allows for an attempt to race. Math below seems to indicate that I win that race even OTD. 6-0
5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
I FoW your first Channel. You can retrieve it with Tracer, but Woodlot runs out of counters, so you can't cast Channel a second time. My second Infiltrator races the Tracer. 6-0
6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Just casting bot Infiltrators actually races the Nest, as Feed costs 5 life, making me 2 turns faster. Math a few posts onwards. 6-0
7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
I FoW your first Channel. You can retrieve it with Tracer, but Woodlot runs out of counters, so you can't cast Channel a second time. My second Infiltrator races the Tracer. 6-0
8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
I show my non-lands to Blackmail. You take a guy, after which OTD I FoW your Legionnaire for the draw, as I'm too slow. OTP I can let your Legionnaire resolve, as the life loss allows me to win the race. See below. 4-1
9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
EDIT: You can Growth my Skerry, which I'll need to FoW or I lose to one of your 1/1s. So I do, and then I lose the race with my one 3/1 shadow sus2 against your team of two 1/1s plus Haven. 0-6
10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
This deck is good against me. Ostracize limits my attack power. Affliction is quite fast and you have an extra threat so I can't just sit there. I don't see a way out of this one, so for now I'll chalk up 0-6
11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
FoW is obviously terrible here, but can I race? Math below. Looks like I can't race OTD but can OTP. 3-3
12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
Again Ostracize limits my attack power. Affliction is quite fast and you have an extra threat so I can't just sit there. I don't see a way out of this one, so for now I'll chalk up 0-6

Total: 37 points


Math vs. Wrath:
A: Skerry
W: Village
A: Suspend Infiltrator, I1=2
W: Sanctuary
A: I1=1, suspend second Infiltrator, I2=2
W: Cast Evangel
A: I2=1, I1 resolves and has haste, attack, W=17
W: Cast second Evangel, make a 1/1
A: I2 resolves and has haste as well, attack, W=11
W: Only now can you start attacking for 6, or you can choose to add a 1/1 each turn, which is too slow. So attack, A=14
A: Attack, W=5
W: Attack, A=8
A: Attack for the win.
I'm even fast enough to race you on the draw, by the looks of it.

Math against H:
A: Skerry
H: Blackmail, take Inf
A: Sus Inf, I=2
H: Swamp, cast Legionnaire, H=18
A: I=1
H: Attack, A=17
A: Inf resolves with haste, attack, H=15
H: A=14
A: H=12
H: A=11
A: H=9
H: A=8
A: H=6
H: A=5
A: H=3
H: A=2
A: H=0

Math against Tylert OTP:
A: Skerry
T: Chrono
A: Suspend Inf1, I1=2
T: Chrono 2/2
A: I1=1, suspend Inf2, I2=2
T: Chrono 3/3
A: I2=1, resolve I1 with haste, attack, T=17
T: Kill Inf1, attack, A=17
A: I2 resolves with haste, attack, T=14
T: Chrono 4/4
A: Attack, T=11
T: If attack: 13, 9, 5, 1 so Chrono 5/5
A: T=8
T: If attack: 12, 7, 2, so Chrono 6/6
A: T=5
T: Attack, A=11
A: T=2
T: Attack, A=5
A: Attacks FTW.

OTD:
T: Swamp, Chrono
A: Skerry
T: Chrono=2/2
A: sus Inf, I1=2
T: Chrono=3/3
A: I1=1, sus Inf, I2=2
T: Chrono=4/4
A: I2=1, I1 resolves with haste, attack, T=17
T: Attack, A=16, Banquet I1
A: I2 resolves with haste, attack, T=14
T: A=12
A: T=11
T: A=8
A: T=8
T: A=4
A: T=5
T: A dies. Nope, even OTD I'll lose this, by the looks of it.

I would think lush growth > sapprazzan skerry.

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
6-0. I can always empty my hand and get Megaliths online

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
Bye. Eyy that me

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
0-6. This is a -sick- deck. Beautiful/10

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
0-6. Blackmail hits a land and I am sad.

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
6-0. Activating the Thornscape Apprentice means you can't use Pendelhaven to save it from Megaliths, so Apprentice and Leafcaller are effectively vanilla 1/1's. I think a 5/5 should win against that.

10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
0-6. Ostracize hits the Vampire, I play out my 2/2, ping your Rats and race your Affliction and am sad when I lose.

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched Banquet, Unearth

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
0-6. Ostracize hits the Vampire, I play out my 2/2, ping your Rats and race your Affliction and am sad when I lose.

Math deleted, it's like 2AM here and I did it all with Megaliths entering untapped. Will redo in the morning after sleep because I am evidently too tired to think straight.

EldraziSmashmaster Results for Round "Alpha Strike!"

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
Force 0-6

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
Eldrazi smash! 6-0

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
Stylish acid 0-6

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
Eldrazi smash! 6-0

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
That's me!

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Feed the squirrels 0-6

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
That's me! 2-2

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
Tracer 6-0

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
LD 0-6

10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
aww rats, discard 0-6

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
Eldrazi smash! 6-0

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
aww rats, discard 0-6

Total: 26 points

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Asthereal

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
That's me, thinking this was a good round for FoW. My other deck would have been tons better though. Actually double Infiltrator was surprisingly relevant.

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
I don't FoW anything. Instead I just suspend and cast both Infiltrators, who race your team no problem. 6-0

---

Lush Growth beats Saprazzan Skerry, so you have to FoW it.

Then it comes down to whether 1 Infiltrator can beat Apprentice + Leafcaller. Leafcaller can filter mana, letting Apprentice tap down Infiltrator forever while the 1/1 Leafcaller beats down.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karshtakavaar

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
6-0. Activating the Thornscape Apprentice means you can't use Pendelhaven to save it from Megaliths, so Apprentice and Leafcaller are effectively vanilla 1/1's. I think a 5/5 should win against that.

---

Lush Growth on tapped Boros Garrison should win this too. While it doesn't color-screw you, it reduces you down to 2 mana, so you can never play the Morph Raiders, hardcast Vampire, or activate Megaliths.

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor LL
2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison DL?
3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus LL
5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer LL
6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest LL
7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer LL
8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire LL
9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller WW - I should read cards better.
10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction LL
11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth LL
12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats LL

2w + whatever happens in the Karshtakavaar match = a bad score

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dte

I would think lush growth > sapprazzan skerry.

---

I missed that idea. Yup, that seems like a good play.
So I'll need to FoW that, and then we get two 1/1s and a Pendelhaven vs. a 3/1 shadow sus2.

Math:
A: Skerry
m: Growth, FoW that, A=19
A: Inf sus1, I=2
m: 1/1 dude
A: I=1
m: second 1/1 dude, att for 1, A=18
A: Inf resolves with haste, attack, m=17
m: attack for 3, A=15
A: m=14
m: A=12
And so forth until I die. That's 0-6.

Me: silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
If you don't counter affliction, it races one Infiltrator, and Ostracize is guaranteed to catch the other. If you do counter Affliction, the Rats take it home.
6 points

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
Ostracize the vampire, and the Raiders plus Megaliths can't race Affliction, while my Rats read "B, Sorcery, Gain 1 life".
6 points

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
Oh my god. This is the deck I was looking for, but I was nowhere close. At all. You're my hero. Out of curiosity, how did you choose to send Azorius Chancery to the banned list instead of the other... (checking...) 1 option? (Oh, UR and UG are already gone. Blue karoos. Go figure.)
0 points

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
We trace resources and I'm pretty sure Affliction wins the race, but I'm open to math that says otherwise.
6 points

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
Typhoid Rats nobly give their lives in the fight against spaghetti.
6 points

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Despite almost playing it one week, I had to look up Feed the Swarm, and it was quite the disappointment.
:( points

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
6 points

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
Ostracise and Affliction will trade for Blackmail and Legionnaire one way or another. 3 things > 2 things.
6 points

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
You can't race the Affliction, so you lock me and out don't even try.
2 points

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
OTP, I take Chronomaton, you Unearth it, but Affliction is too fast.
OTD, you can play Chronomaton first, then grow it for 9 turns before removing my blocker. WL
3 points.
This seems to contradict FTW's result, and the dte-Tylert result of the previous round. If I'm right (which I hope I'm not, cause more points), I think we should have the precedent to correct the points but leave the bannings as they are regardless (not that they would be changed in this case). Interestingly, I believe this hits the top 3 players equally, and is a boost to Tylert.

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
I'm pretty sure that T1 Ostracize on Rats is winning. If player 2 casts any spell, player 2 is exposed to Affliction first and loses. So player 2 passes. Player 1 now plays Rats, P2 plays Affliction (P1 will die on the 7th upkeep), but player 1 attacks with Rats and plays Affliction which kills in 5 turns. WL
3 points

44 points.

I had many ideas that would have crushed the previous round, but in the big power vacuum left by Strip Mind and Ghost Quarter, I found it very hard to predict where the meta would go. I searched pretty hard for something creative and broadly powerful, but I came up empty, so I went with a boring but safe choice. And as we all know, if FTW submits the same list as you, you must be doing something right. (Corollary: FTW is always doing something right.) The two decks that I thought I was going to choose from at the beginning of the week would have scored 26 and 12 points. Go go, safe!

It turns out that the other deck that I was considering as a safe choice would have done better. Do you guys find it harder to come up with decks or to decide between them?

I've been trying to make Reality Acid work since the Pauper days, but I was mostly looking at Kor Skyfisher, which got banned all on its own (and a little on the strength of Journey to Nowhere). I even knew what Tel-Jilad Stylus did and I've looked at it in the past few weeks, but I did not put together what it was capable of.

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Tried a lot harder this time. Eldrazi, chronomaton & 8 rack seemed the best decks by far and naturally beat wasteland. I also have a liking for token strats which inherently beats chrono. Teched hard for those two matchups and hoped no-one played LD or Blackmail.

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
You can't win the race so you FOW nest for the draw. 2-2. Edit: Because of suspend granting haste(an extra 6 damage), I actually lose the race. 0-6.

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
You have to lead on raiders, and I can kill it (for 0 life loss) before you can pay for madness. OTP I have 3 tokens before you can attack so I win with the extra one. OTD I only have 2 . 4-1

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
Tech'd for enchantments not artifacts. Very strong and innovative brew 0-6

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
A million saprolings staring at a million squirrels, not daring to move first is a silly image. 2-2. Edit: I thought treetop village was 1 mana to activate like mutavault. You can't make tokens after killing the first evangel. 6-0

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
Squirrels confirmed eldrazi hard counter. 6-0

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
Squirrels confirmed eldrazi hard counter. 6-0

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
Who knew blackmail was LD? 0-6

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
More LD. 0-6

10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
Teched hard for this "level 0" best deck. 6-0

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
Tokens > big dude. 6-0

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
Teched hard for this "level 0" best deck. 6-0

Overall I got a good read on the meta. But nothing quite as impressive as DTE's brew. Good Job!
13W 3D for 42.

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
You have to FoW Lush on your land, and then I can funnel G into W through Leafcaller to tap your il-Kor every turn with Thornscape Apprentice, while I attack with Leafcaller for 20 turns. 6-0

2. Karshtakavaar: Keldon Megaliths, Gathan Raiders, Bloodmad Vampire, Boros Garrison
Lush Growth on Boros Garrison should lock you out of doing anything. 6-0

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
This deck rules. Stylus lets you dodge my LD, so you can exile my threats and loop your Desert to win. 0-6

4. Wrath of Pie: Treetop Village, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Evangel, Selesnya Evangel
This seems tricky. If I Lush your Sanctuary, that shuts off Treetop. You can still make your Evangels, but I can attack into them pretty safely (with first strike if necessary) for a few turns. I think you should get enough tokens to hold me off before I can kill you though. I'll try to check the numbers later, but it seems like you have plenty of time. 0-6

5. GoblinSmashmaster: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
Lush your land. 6-0

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Lush on Rot Farm means you can't cast anything. 6-0

7. alphastryk: Hickory Woodlot, Channel, Eldrazi Devastator, Nantuko Tracer
Same as GoblinSmashmaster. 6-0

8. H: Swamp, Swamp, Blackmail, Porcelain Legionnaire
OTP I can land my Apprentice before he gets Blackmailed. You then take Leafcaller, and then I Lush my Pendelhaven and tap your guy forever. OTD you Blackmail my Apprentice and I can't beat your 3/1 First Strike with my 2/3. 1-4

9. maxx!: Pendelhaven, Lush Growth, Thornscape Apprentice, Orochi Leafcaller
This is me : ]

10. silkster: Swamp, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats, Shrieking Affliction
Unfortunately I can't race Shrieking Affliction. I can draw with it by shutting your land off, though. 2-2

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
This looks like a draw at a glance. If you lead with Chronomaton, I Lush your Swamp and then tap your guy forever. If I lead with either of my creatures and let you play Banquet on one of them, then I can't beat Chronomaton. So I play Pendelhaven and you hold all 4 cards and we stare. 2-2

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
How did you and silkster play the same list including your choice for deathtouch dork? 2-2

6+6+0+0+6+6+6+1+2+2+2 = 37

Expected most decks this week to either have powerful lands or be black, so at least I called that. Probably tried to get too cute, but I figured nobody would expect Lush this week.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Tried a lot harder this time. Eldrazi, chronomaton & 8 rack seemed the best decks by far and naturally beat wasteland. I also have a liking for token strats which inherently beats chrono. Teched hard for those two matchups and hoped no-one played LD or Blackmail.

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
You can't win the race so you FOW nest for the draw. 2-2

---

You both have this result, but I think it's wrong. Asthereal's timeline is
Skerry,
Suspend 2,
Suspend 1, Suspend 2,
Hit for 3, Suspend 1, ...
Assuming that one Infiltrator is killed here (which is the most interraction that Reeplcheep can offer), will do 3 damage per turn. Since Feed the Swarm chunks the caster for the mana cost of the target, Reeplcheep takes 5, which means that it only takes 4 more Infiltrator hits to win. That's a total of 8 turns.

Compare this to Reeplcheep's timeline: Forest, GRF, Fores+Farm, first token, 1dmg, 2dmg, 3dmg, 4dmg, 5dmg, lethal, which is 10 turns.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maxx!

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
How did you and silkster play the same list including your choice for deathtouch dork? 2-2

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I know there are many of them, but I didn't feel like looking them up, so I just used the same one that was used last round. I found it very difficult to figure out what I was trying to beat, so I went with safe. Also note that I chose The Rack in week 1 because I knew its speed would cover a lot of bases.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
Teched hard for this "level 0" best deck. 6-0
11W 5D for 38.

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Definitely a good job overall, but I know the feeling of identifying the level-0 best deck, finding a way to beat it, but still losing to it in the standings. That's why I went with the flow this time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Asthereal

Asthereal's scores for round 6:

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
That's me, thinking this was a good round for FoW. My other deck would have been tons better though. Actually double Infiltrator was surprisingly relevant.

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
FoW is obviously terrible here, but can I race? Math below. Loks like I can't race either. 0-6


Math against Tylert:
T: Swamp, Chrono
A: Skerry
T: Chrono=2/2
A: sus Inf, I1=2
T: Chrono=3/3
A: I1=1, sus Inf, I2=2
T: Chrono=4/4
A: I2=1, I1 resolves with haste, attack, T=17
T: Attack, A=16, Banquet I1
A: I2 resolves with haste, attack, T=14
T: A=12
A: T=11
T: A=8
A: T=8
T: A=4
A: T=5
T: A dies. Nope, even OTD I'll lose this, by the looks of it.

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I think Asthereal wins on the play. Skerry, susp2, susp1, then 7 attack is a 10 turn clock. Chronomaton is generally a 9 turn clock (4/4 attacks 5 times or 5/5 attacks 4 times), but Tylert has to spend turn 4 casting removal. Chrono gets to attack for 3, but that three damage doesn't actually accomplish anything, so the clock is slowed down to turn 10. Tylert can keep the 9 turn clock by growing to a 4/4 first, but that gives Asthereal one turn of hitting for 6, which brings the Infiltrator clock down to 9 turns.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

You both have this result, but I think it's wrong. Asthereal's timeline is
Skerry,
Suspend 2,
Suspend 1, Suspend 2,
Hit for 3, Suspend 1, ...
Assuming that one Infiltrator is killed here (which is the most interraction that Reeplcheep can offer), will do 3 damage per turn. Since Feed the Swarm chunks the caster for the mana cost of the target, Reeplcheep takes 5, which means that it only takes 4 more Infiltrator hits to win. That's a total of 8 turns.

Compare this to Reeplcheep's timeline: Forest, GRF, Fores+Farm, first token, 1dmg, 2dmg, 3dmg, 4dmg, 5dmg, lethal, which is 10 turns.

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I definitely neglected the haste/sorcery interaction. oof.

Quote:

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Definitely a good job overall, but I know the feeling of identifying the level-0 best deck, finding a way to beat it, but still losing to it in the standings. That's why I went with the flow this time.

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Yah I 6-0'd all the decks I identified, but still got 6 less points than you. Feelsbadman.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

11. Tylert: Swamp, Chronomaton, Wretched banquet, Unearth
OTP, I take Chronomaton, you Unearth it, but Affliction is too fast.
OTD, you can play Chronomaton first, then grow it for 9 turns before removing my blocker. WL
3 points.
This seems to contradict FTW's result, and the dte-Tylert result of the previous round. If I'm right (which I hope I'm not, cause more points), I think we should have the precedent to correct the points but leave the bannings as they are regardless (not that they would be changed in this case). Interestingly, I believe this hits the top 3 players equally, and is a boost to Tylert.

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I think you're right. I avoided Chronomaton math and just copied the past result, but I don't see a line where we can beat the 10/10. We can play out Affliction and attack with Rats while Chronomaton is growing, but if Tylert just waits to grow Chronomaton big enough (e.g. 10/10) before killing the Rats, Chronomaton will win in 2 hits before Affliction can deal the remaining damage. I'm surprised we all missed it last round in dte vs Tylert.

Because the standings are close, and optimal play for both players is assumed, I agree all 3 of us should take the hit here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

12. FTW: Swamp, Shrieking Affliction, Ostracize, Typhoid Rats
I'm pretty sure that T1 Ostracize on Rats is winning. If player 2 casts any spell, player 2 is exposed to Affliction first and loses. So player 2 passes. Player 1 now plays Rats, P2 plays Affliction (P1 will die on the 7th upkeep), but player 1 attacks with Rats and plays Affliction which kills in 5 turns. WL
3 points

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Right, we should both play for the win to maximize points, instead of stopping each other from winning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

It turns out that the other deck that I was considering as a safe choice would have done better. Do you guys find it harder to come up with decks or to decide between them?

I've been trying to make Reality Acid work since the Pauper days, but I was mostly looking at Kor Skyfisher, which got banned all on its own (and a little on the strength of Journey to Nowhere). I even knew what Tel-Jilad Stylus did and I've looked at it in the past few weeks, but I did not put together what it was capable of.

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One of my other contenders was a similar deck to dte, but I didn't find Reality Acid! I couldn't think of a good common that answered all the cards types I needed to answer to hedge against the wide open meta, so Affliction looked like a safe choice. Reality Acid recursion is amazing tech!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FTW

I think you're right. I avoided Chronomaton math and just copied the past result, but I don't see a line where we can beat the 10/10. We can play out Affliction and attack with Rats while Chronomaton is growing, but if Tylert just waits to grow Chronomaton big enough (e.g. 10/10) before killing the Rats, Chronomaton will win in 2 hits before Affliction can deal the remaining damage. I'm surprised we all missed it last round in dte vs Tylert.

Because the standings are close, and optimal play for both players is assumed, I agree all 3 of us should take the hit here.

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Can we correct it in last round standings? I Did not do the math myself and believed Dte :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tylert

Can we correct it in last round standings? I Did not do the math myself and believed Dte :)

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I read myself as having FTW's support and went ahead and did it. No top places changed, and the whole spreadsheet draws information automatically, so it was just changing one instance of 6-0 to 3-3.

Also, I'm now regretting not playing the other serious contender in my mind because it would have gotten more cards banned. Of course, who knew what FTW was going to play, and it could just have easily gone the other way. Still, I'm always excited when lots of stuff gets banned.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

I think Asthereal wins on the play. Skerry, susp2, susp1, then 7 attack is a 10 turn clock. Chronomaton is generally a 9 turn clock (4/4 attacks 5 times or 5/5 attacks 4 times), but Tylert has to spend turn 4 casting removal. Chrono gets to attack for 3, but that three damage doesn't actually accomplish anything, so the clock is slowed down to turn 10. Tylert can keep the 9 turn clock by growing to a 4/4 first, but that gives Asthereal one turn of hitting for 6, which brings the Infiltrator clock down to 9 turns.

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Okay let's see.

A: Skerry
T: Chrono
A: Suspend Inf1, I1=2
T: Chrono 2/2
A: I1=1, suspend Inf2, I2=2
T: Chrono 3/3
A: I2=1, resolve I1 with haste, attack, T=17
T: Kill Inf1, attack, A=17
A: I2 resolves with haste, attack, T=14
T: Chrono 4/4
A: Attack, T=11
T: If attack: 13, 9, 5, 1 so Chrono 5/5
A: T=8
T: If attack: 12, 7, 2, so Chrono 6/6
A: T=5
T: Attack, A=11
A: T=2
T: Attack, A=5
A: Attacks FTW.

Yup, you're correct.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

6. Reeplcheep: Golgari Rot-Farm, Forest, Feed the Swarm, Squirrel Nest
Tried a lot harder this time. Eldrazi, chronomaton & 8 rack seemed the best decks by far and naturally beat wasteland. I also have a liking for token strats which inherently beats chrono. Teched hard for those two matchups and hoped no-one played LD or Blackmail.

1. Asthereal (TO): Saprazzan Skerry, Force of Will, Infiltrator il-Kor, Infiltrator il-Kor
You can't win the race so you FOW nest for the draw. 2-2. Edit: Because of suspend granting haste(an extra 6 damage), I actually lose the race. 0-6.

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I forgot about Feed costing life. Let's check the math.

R: Forest
A: Skerry
R: Farm
A: Sus inf1, I1=2
R: Forest, Nest on Forest
A: I1=1, sus inf2, I2=2
R: 1 token
A: I2=1, I1 resolves with haste, attack, R=17
R: token, attack for 1, A=19, Feed the inf, R=12 (ouch!)
A: I2 resolves with haste, attack, R=9
R: token, attack for 2, A=17
A: Attack, R=6
R: token, attack for 3, A=14
A: Attack, R=3
R: token, attack for 4, A=10
A: Attack for the win.
That's not even that close. Okay, 6-0 for the Infiltrators.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

3. dte: Azorius Chancery, Sunscorched Desert, Reality Acid, Tel-Jilad Stylus
Oh my god. This is the deck I was looking for, but I was nowhere close. At all. You're my hero. Out of curiosity, how did you choose to send Azorius Chancery to the banned list instead of the other... (checking...) 1 option? (Oh, UR and UG are already gone. Blue karoos. Go figure.)
...

It turns out that the other deck that I was considering as a safe choice would have done better. Do you guys find it harder to come up with decks or to decide between them?

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Thank you :) I had azorius because I meant to look at O-ring-like cards to check if one was better than acid, but as acid filled the bill pretty well I didn't look it up in the end. On round 1 I took the UR because I thought it funny to have a monoblue 4CB deck that could produce each of the five colors.

I find it easy to come up with decks, and very hard to chose between them!
I have several written down, but they all lose to something that will see play, so it is all bet vs metagame. In doubt, I'll go for weird/fun deck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

I read myself as having FTW's support and went ahead and did it. No top places changed, and the whole spreadsheet draws information automatically, so it was just changing one instance of 6-0 to 3-3.

Also, I'm now regretting not playing the other serious contender in my mind because it would have gotten more cards banned. Of course, who knew what FTW was going to play, and it could just have easily gone the other way. Still, I'm always excited when lots of stuff gets banned.

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Thank you for spotting and changing it!
I completely missed the line last week, and Tylert's chronomaton deck was one deck I thought before designing the deck :/

I also like large banning, more room to create something new. The two last rounds were having almost no bannings (I don't count strip mine as a banning, as quarter was still there). It makes metagame prediction more interesting and opens up for new thing - I think this week there were quite a few innovative decks, a third of the field was original and well-thoughts designs.