Hey,
Is it possible to see your decklist Hollywood? I'm very interested to see it, so i can brainstorm a bit. Did you already post your deck?
K1w1
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Hey,
Is it possible to see your decklist Hollywood? I'm very interested to see it, so i can brainstorm a bit. Did you already post your deck?
K1w1
I really dislike the argument of not playing LED because LED causes players to misplay by mulliganing too aggressively or rushing head long into counters, I mean Manaless Dredge is already pretty idiot proof once you understand the triggers so 1 card that requires rational thought and timing isn't the end of the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywood
I think it really just depends on what you're seeing, LED/DA is pretty much your plan vs every fast deck not playing counters and helps seal up the aggro match up air tight.
This is the list I've been playing to a great deal of success:Quote:
Originally Posted by K1w1
[4x] Nether Shadow
[4x] Golgari Grave-Troll
[4x] Stinkweed Imp
[4x] Narcomoeba
[4x] Shambling Shell
[4x] Ichorid
[4x] Faerie Macabre
[4x] Bridge from Below
[4x] Dread Return
[4x] Street Wraith
[4x] Gitaxian Probe
[4x] Cabal Therapy
[4x] Phantasmagorian
[4x] Golgari Thug
[1x] Flame-kin Zealot
[1x] Iona, Shield of Emeria
[1x] River Kelpie
[1x] Sphinx of Lost Truths
//Sideboard
[4x] Lion's Eye Diamond
[4x] Desperate Ravings
[4x] Chancellor of the Annex
[2x] Surgical Extraction
[1x] Blightsteel Colossus
Again, you could argue the Lion's Eye Diamond slots to be interchangeable in the main, but so far I haven't been liking it. Lion's Eye Diamond, unless you open hand it or draw into it with your first draw, is dead. And assuming you actually do dredge into a Deep Analysis and sandbag it (which as I mentioned opens you up to discard and gives your opponent a chance to draw into relevant countermagic), I see no reason able to convince me L.E.D. is stronger right now with conditional countermagic everywhere.
If you're going to activate on your second or third turn, you'll probably already have the game well in order by being able to advance the game with Street Wraith or Gitaxian Probe - which offers a tremendous amount of versatility where none previously existed in that slot. I'd much rather know my opponents' hands and dredge - making my Therapies that much stronger - than risk dropping an L.E.D. which does effectively nothing by itself except forces you to work directly with Deep Analysis (assuming you actually have it in the graveyard).
This deck has some very intricate decision-making going on in it, more than what you'd consider "idiot proof." Lion's Eye Diamond is a powerful enough card with Deep Analysis to force you to think twice about keeping a relatively slower hand with smaller dredgers and opens up the option for you where there was none before to be able to mulligan your hand into an aggressive start. This line of play which gives the player the option of finding this combination of cards can - and will - force some players into at least pondering a mulligan. That is where trouble comes, in the form of no L.E.D. in your six and a 'Time Walk' for your opponent.Quote:
I really dislike the argument of not playing LED because LED causes players to misplay by mulliganing too aggressively or rushing head long into counters, I mean Manaless Dredge is already pretty idiot proof once you understand the triggers so 1 card that requires rational thought and timing isn't the end of the world.
It's not a matter of playing L.E.D. right; I'm sure we all understand that clearly. What it is a matter of is creating a level of consistency outside the realm of a start without L.E.D. and Deep Analysis, because without them in your opening hand you now have eight total dead slots predicated on what - trying to better your Combo matchup? I just think the collective utility of Faerie Macabre and Gitaxian Probe provide greater stability and consistency than L.E.D. and D.A. pre-board, which is what we need because it's a match (typical Game One's) we're supposed to win.
Faerie Macabre as noted by several other players has now found its place as a key element of being able to hit those cards which would steal the 'automatic' Game One win, cards like Bojuka Bog and Glacial Chasm off Intuition, Elesh Norn and friends in Reanimator, opposing Dredge builds prepared to 'go off,' etc. Feeding to Ichorid has actually been extremely relevant in the instances you need to ride on the back of a Shambling Shell to dredge into goodies, as you just can't afford to exile the only dredger you have at times. It's also an 'ace in the hole' against Relic, something I've already experienced multiple times first hand.
The Aggro match is already sealed up enough. This deck absolutely houses traditional Aggro and Aggro Control decks, so an overcommitment to dedicating eight slots on the premise you'll be facing Storm or Belcher seems relatively inane when you consider you can already try and race them Game One enough to steal a win and subsequently hammer them games Two and Three with the L.E.D. package and Chancellor of the Annex.Quote:
I think it really just depends on what you're seeing, LED/DA is pretty much your plan vs every fast deck not playing counters and helps seal up the aggro match up air tight.
I saw it happen with traditional Dredge at the Open Series in Las Vegas during live coverage; there's no reason to believe Manaless can't do the same by ripping their hand apart and nailing some serious damage in - relegating Ad Nauseam to being useless. I just think the overall utility of cards like Faerie Macabre and Gitaxian Probe outweigh the utility of L.E.D. and D.A.
Of course, I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.
*One more thing to note: I run two relatively flexible slots in the sideboard at the moment which happen to be Surgical Extractions. Because I run Faerie main, I have been evaluating and looking at the meta and I'm starting to consider different options for those slots at the moment. With Burn making a surge at Las Vegas and Top Eight berth, I'm wondering if bringing back Ancestor's Chosen is a good idea. It obviously helps against Storm, too.
Just wondering, why are you playing Deep Analysis over Desperate Ravings?
Desperate Ravings doesn't cost you life, has the chance to get you a Dredge card back in the yard and can't be targeted by Misdirection effects. And it only costs one mana more, which shouldn't be a problem, when you plan on casting it with mana from Lion's Eye Diamond (and if you cast it with LED, you will definitly get a Dredge card back in the yard).
Desperate Ravings eats it to Spell Snare, which sees much more play than Misdirection. The discard is rather negligible when you consider you'll probably hit a Phantasmagorian. Even if you don't you've still exploded into as much as a Desperate Ravings - which also eats it to Daze.Quote:
Originally Posted by flrn
At any rate, I would only bring those combination of cards in against Storm, so you're probably right. However, those reasons aforementioned would probably make someone think twice about running them main.
My other loss was to RUG. Everyone seemed to come prepared with a variety of graveyard hate, and there were times when I would whiff on dredges or not see Ichorids. Most of this is probably due to not shuffling enough, which I spent a lot of time doing after the first match. I also don't play super aggressively which probably could have eeked out some of those close matches. As I said, the deck is a blast to play and will begin testing the LED board version this week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywood
For the board, what would be the first thing you'd side out going into game 2? My board was a little wonky, and I usually just went for Chancellor of the Annex, pulling out an Ichorid, a Shell, a probe and a Phantasmagorian. These choices were probably not optimal but I was unsure what would be best. In short, the losses were essentially my own error and I'm going to continue practicing with the deck.
Is your meta full with high tide? Or why are you playing Blightsteel colossus? I would take Elesh-Norn. She can help you more against mirror Or reanimate. Imo.
Another point i wanna know, why LED and DA ? Isnt it better to take DR targets & a full set of extraction? Sure you are faster with it, but i would play more saver.
K1w1
@kirkusjones- if you were to run 4 LED + 2 Desperate Ravings in the board along with a set of Chancellors with Hollywood's list, I'd go -2 Phantasmagorian, -4 Macabre, -4 DR targets, +4 LED, +2 D. Ravings, +4 Chancellor.
@Hollywood- Ravings is almost strictly better than Analysis in Manaless Dredge. I'm at school right now so I can't talk for long, but I'll make a long post tonight concerning maindeck configuration philosophy with respect to LED.
Blightsteel Colossus is effectively an auto-loss for Painter-Grindstone variants trying to get the quick win. It also does help against High Tide in some instances.Quote:
Originally Posted by K1w1
Iona can also seal that up good, as an opponent naming 'Blue' off Painter would never be able to cast spells again with an Iona on that color. Blightsteel Colossus' slot has absolutely nothing to do with Elesh Norn. It does nothing to help the Reanimator matchup; that job is left for Faerie Macabre to handle. L.E.D. and D.A. (or Desperate Ravings which is what I would run) are basically there for Combo.
Thank you for your quick answer, but why LED + DA if you already run 4 Chancellor + FKZ/Sphinx/Kelpie + Cabal Therapy? Dont think this is enough?
K1w1
Unless you're running really terrible cards like Gigapede, or maybe Dakmor Salvage and Bloodghasts MD, any cards you put into the LED/DA slots are virtually dead whenever they're in the graveyard (I liken it "feeds Ichorid" to it "pitches to FoW"). I think you're much more confident in the aggro and aggro-combo match ups than I am, because I still have some pretty close games vs. Affinity, Elves, Goblins and Zoo and if you don't close out game one vs. aggro it's a fucking disaster to go into game two with a loss.
I just can't get behind the "LED is bad because it lets you mulligan argument," because that is exactly why I like LED, it gives you more options in your starting hand selections and lets you potentially blow out an opponent who gets cute and lets you play on game 2.
Spell Snare is actually a really good argument against Desperate Ravings tho', I completely missed that.
Because Manaless Dredge has a ridiculously high level of consistency, its sideboard has an unusually high number of flex slots in it based on its strength of winning Game One's. In examining the deck's worst possible matchups, you have to start right at the top with Storm Combo - which is not necessarily an 'auto-loss' - but a significant uphill battle to climb. Chancellor of the Annex provides protection not just in that matchup, but also against greedy manabases using lower curves.Quote:
Originally Posted by K1w1
One could argue the combination of cards you mentioned is enough, but again you have to remember this isn't a 'traditional' sideboard; our utility is restricted to free spells or useful D.R. targets because we have no mana resources to begin with. If we can use some of those slots to improve our worst matchup significantly, then that seems like a good idea to me. Chancellor could go main (I've had it there before), but with the abhorrently large number of Tempo decks out there right now I'd just rather win those games the 'old-fashioned' way and free up some main-deck space for some of our harder matchups, namely Reanimator.
My sideboard is usually always in flux depending on what's hot at the moment.
So, after more rigorous testing, I'm back on the four Phantasmagorian, LED-less bandwagon for the time being, and not just because it gives the deck more resiliency and makes it less susceptible to countermagicks (although, that axiom is pretty questionable); I was also finding that the deck had a more consistent turn three kill, probably because of the reduction of dead cards in the form of Desperate Ravings (less of a boom/bust feel if you catch my drift, but of a considerably lower magnitude than an idiom such as that would imply). It would probably post a lower abstract average winning turn than the 4 LED, 2 Desperate Ravings, 2 Phantasmagorian list I tested with* (3.54 if you're forgetting). I was just really underrating the speed of not only four Nether Shadow, but four Phantasmagorian and the synergy between both as well. I have a lot more to write about the deck and its inclusions, but I'm having a hard time putting all of my thoughts into words right now.
As for the tentative decklist, I would recommend Hollywood's list** with the kicker that the four Faerie Macabre could be arbitrarily swapped for a four LED (in addition to cutting something else for some number of Ravings, as LED is a bit worse without it) or Chancellor of the Annex configuration, the latter of which I'm liking the most at the moment. I suppose a set of Baubles should also not be overlooked in that slot as well. I'm pretty sure there is a decklist lurking somewhere that would be more optimal than running four of everything, but I'm having a frustratingly hard time finding it right now. Until something better hits me, the sideboard I'd advocate would be 8 LED/Chancellor/Faerie Macabre (one of the three options being in the maindeck, of course), 4 Desperate Ravings (or some combination of Ravings and Phantasmagorian should you choose to maindeck an amount of Ravings and four LED), 3 Return targets. I don't know for sure if running a full set of Ravings will indeed make the deck faster as every game where you don't draw LED it slows the deck down somewhat, but I'm liking it at the moment.
*just finished testing one hundred games with the aforementioned list (Hollywood's with -1 Kelpie, -1 Iona, -4 Macabre, +2 Sphinx, +4 Chancellor of the Annex) with all of the prerequisites as the last one and it looks like I was wrong, though not by much; the mean average came out to an even turn 3.6. Mode was turn 3, median was turn 4. This is obviously discounting what Chancellor can bring in virtual turns since I didn't have an actual opponent.
**as long as you cut Iona for another Sphinx of Lost Truths, since maindecking Iona seems suboptimal.
So, what are you people thinking those targets should be? One should for sure be able to deal with problem permanents such as Ensnaring Bridge or Glacial Chasm (Angel of Despair/The Rasta Don/Woodfall Primus).
So tonight I wound up going undefeated and winning the tournament - splitting with Alix Hatfield in the Finals. I actually played L.E.D. and Deep Analysis in the board only because I hadn't picked up Ravings yet. Anyways, on to the report:
Round One versus Dan (nitewolf9) w/ BUG
Game One: So Dan and I meet again after playing each other last week. We start the game off and I'm right on the money with a Phantasmagorian ready to explode into some seriously broken action. Dan fires out a Delver and Goyf, but before they can become relevant I am able to overrun him with Zombies and a Dread Returned River Kelpie. I go bonkers and Dan just concedes, as we both know what's going to happen.
Game Two: Dan puts me on the play and winds up mulling himself. He does, however, hit a good string of cards and forces me to play around double Crypt and Engineered Explosives - in addition to double 'Goyf, Tombstalker, and Delver. I am actually able to overcome almost all of this, as I eventually play through both Crypts and find myself in a position needing to dredge into a Dread Return to go off. I can't find it, but I had a chance - playing around Crypt(s) perfectly. Dan wins it though with that key E.E., and it's on to Game Three...
Game Three: Dan keeps his hand and I do too. The game teeters back and forth for a few turns, with him sending a few beats in and me exploding into Ichorids and Shadows. I am able to hit four Bridges early, make a boatload of tokens, and power through his board for some serious damage. I eventually Dread Return Chancellor of the Annex, and Golgari Grave Troll (10/10) and it's just too much, as Dan needed to pay extra for his 'Goyf but left him powerless to activate his on-board E.E. which was effectively useless against the recursive threats (Ichorid and Shadow).
1-0, [2-1-0]
Round Two versus James w/ Zoo
Game One: After some brief chit-chat, we get down to business. I am able to discard Phantasmagorian into some serious action, and I blow the game open during my second turn by using Gitaxian Probe. I wind up winning a relatively close game, as he was able to get some serious damage on board - until River Kelpie allowed me to turn my deck sideways with him having a stripped hand. I swing for an arbitrary amount of damage with F.K.Z. and tokens.
Game Two: I had a feeling he was on Ooze with Zenith, and I was right. He blows me out by drawing into his singleton Crypt (running the E. Tutor package) and having the turn two Ooze. Too much to handle, even with Phantasmagorian again.
Game Three: So for shits and giggles, I decide to bring in the L.E.D. and Deep Analysis package. I announce I will be playing, which concerns him. Sure enough, I open with an L.E.D., D.A., and Stinkweed Imp, and I blow the game open - much to his chagrin. I need one more turn to actually win though, so I let him know if he has Crypt I'll scoop. He doesn't and I am able to attack him to death with an 11/11 Grave-Troll and four Zombie tokens. He did E. Tutor for it before, but it was too late.
It was risky boarding it in against Zoo but I wound up taking it down because of them. I can't say for sure if I would have won otherwise, but it didn't matter.
2-0, [4-2-0]
Round Three versus Nice Guy with U/W Mystic
Game One: I am on the draw and discard a Phantasmagorian. I also have two Trolls and two Street Wraith in hand, which allow me to secure the turn two win after Dread Returning into Kelpie and blowing the game open.
Game Two: He plays a land and passes. I discard a Troll and dredge the following turn into goodies. I play it safe, though, as he finally drops Relic and exiles my graveyard. I draw to eight and discard Phantasmagorian. I then proceed to discard six and cycle a Street Wraith into the absolute nuts. He has nothing else and I win the game by swinging with two Zombie tokens, a F.K.Z., and an Iona - all in the same turn. He ran out his Snapcasters too quick, and I was able to capitalize.
3-0, [6-2-0]
Round Four versus Alix Hatfield: I.D.
3-0-1, [6-2-1]
Thoughts: I just really like the overall configuration of the build that I currently run. There were times I was staring down serious damage - especially from Zoo - and found a way to blow the game open with River Kelpie. It was very nice seeing the L.E.D. and D.A.(/Ravings) plan in action - in a matchup it really has no business coming in to. I just wanted to try it, and it wound up winning me the game. I just think there are lots of angles this deck can attack from and the lack of interactivity is just ridiculous.
Gitaxian Probe was key, as usual. The information it provided allowed me to knock out the key S.T.P. that would have exiled my 'Returned Troll against Zoo, which I 'Therapied away. Once again, Chancellor brought back into play housed BUG, and I was able to put the pressure on and take it down again.
All in all, everything worked very successful. The deck fired on all cylinders, and I was only a card away in my losses playing around Crypt that could have won those games in a single turn. That even in defeat is ridiculously awesome - and hard to stop - as the deck is just able to pour and pour the pressure on.
Either way, Manaless Dredge takes it down.
Good to hear, I plan on playing it tomorrow instead of the usual Storm, hopefully with the same results.
After goldfishing around twenty times with Final Fortune's suggested build (which is -4 Gitaxian Probe, -4 flex slot, +4 LED, +4 Ravings), I can assuredly say that it's slower on average in the abstract than both of the lists I previously tested, with turn four being the overwhelmingly high winning turn on average. Makes me pretty sure we just want to minimize the amount of draw spells that are solely predicated on each each other, i.e. run Gitaxian Probe.
That's odd, because previous calculations of yours over larger sample sizes showed LED/DA (with Serum Powder) being just as fast as 12 Cantrip builds and that Serum Powder actually decreased the speed of the deck, which is what lead me to replace Serum Powder with Street Wraith so the deck should be even faster. I've played LED/DA in Manaless Dredge probably more than anyone from my MTGO Classic days, and it definitely wins faster than a mode/mean average of turn 4. I'm also not certain whether or not adjusting the mode/mean average of the deck is as important as being able to win as soon as turn 1, 2 or 3 with Lion's Eye Diamond because the threat of those accelerated turns is more important than our fundamental turn as long as it can still realistically race rogue.dec without LED.Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinTrudeau
Lion's Eye Diamond isn't solely predicated on Deep Analysis, because the deck will eventually Dredge into Deep Analysis or at least serve as an outlet, the only dependent card in the deck is Deep Analysis itself. I'm also completely against Desperate Ravings as of now and I'm absolutely certain Deep Analysis is better, being immune to Spell Snare was incredibly relevant IRL this week.
As far as what SB Dread Return targets to run, honestly I just run 2 Sphinx of Lost Truths, 1 Flame Kin Zealot and 1 Angel of Despair MD (I run into shit like Propaganda and Elephant Grass MD) and really think that's more than enough.
As far as the SB goes, what do you guys think of playing Bojuka Bog instead of Surgical Extraction? I think Reanimator players wont expect it at all, and they'll likely Entomb or Careful Study their reanimation target on their first turn with a Daze in hand and we can confidently RFG it with another set of uncounterable answers. I'm honestly thinking pretty long and hard about just playing a board full of graveyard hate to completely burry that match up.
Right, but it was turn 3.94, and it was being compared to a 16 cantrip list. However, these are two completely different lists now that Serum Powder is gone and it must be tested thoroughly again. It will achieve a faster mean average than turn four, and it might prove to have the highest overall combined turn 1/2 kill count, but remember, the test results are somewhat flawed in that I'm counting the winning turn as the turn where the twentieth point of damage is dealt, not necessarily the turn where you Cabal Therapy their hand away and establish a huge armada of dudes. I'll of course need to complete the full one hundred test games before coming to any conclusions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Final Fortune
You're right in that LED isn't completely dead without Desperate Ravings, but it becomes a lot less useful, to the point of where I'd rather play a set of Chancellor of the Annex above it in the maindeck. Its two biggest benefits as a four-of without a flashback draw spell are:Quote:
Originally Posted by Final Fortune
1. It gives you an out if you have to mulligan, and
2. It deals with player familiarity by potentially letting you punish people who know you're playing Manaless, won the roll, and put you on the play.
Other than that, it services as a worse Phantasmagorian in the sense that Gitaxian Probe is worse than Street Wraith (though it's actually a bit worse than that).
That's one of the reasons why I decided to move LED for the time being (I'm not dead-set on that) to the board, because it does open you up to countermagic in order to function, whereas the last build I tested is pretty much just as fast on average (though it did have half of the turn two kills and obviously no turn ones). I would consider DR superior to DA even if DA didn't cost you three life; not only does it do wonders in preventing you from bricking, it increases the quality of the next dredge as well (which will give out a higher probability for stronger dredges in every subsequent dredge), and it's an instant, meaning you can (and should) stack it above any Street Wraiths and Gitaxian Probes to help ensure that they'll not only be dredging something back, but that they'll be dredging for more cards. Yeah, it can get countered by Spell Snare, but LED probably wasn't even necessary to have been cast against a deck that was playing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Final Fortune
If Reanimator is getting played a shit-ton where you live, then yeah, that sounds reasonable (although good Reanimator players won't just Entomb as a sorcery). You'll just have to fully weigh the pros and cons of both Extraction and Bog. What are you cutting for it, though (LED package I'm guessing)?Quote:
Originally Posted by Final Fortune
So, how exactly is a Bojuka Bog in Manaless Dredge going to stop a Reanimator player from casting Entomb during your End Step and putting an Elesh Norn into play during their Main Phase? No offense, but that's about the worst idea I've ever heard for a card suggestion before. It's even a land in a deck with "Manaless" in its title (which is now collectively accepted as 'literally' instead of 'figuratively'); no good here. Surgical Extraction can also force your opponent to shuffle away graveyard-based hate in conjunction with Enlightened Tutor - something I've seen happen out of numerous sideboards as of late.
The card has no place in this deck - not even the sideboard. Stick with Faerie Macabre; its utility stretches far greater than simply against graveyard-based strategies where it's already an ace.
Alright, I just got back from the weekly tourney at my store (Monster Den in South Minneapolis). A quick report:
I get there about an hour early and buy a set of Faerie Macabre. The store's unfortunately out of Desperate Ravings, meaning I'd have to sleeve up Deep Analysis instead. I play two matches with my homie Alex (AlexAI here on The Source) piloting Affinity, and lose both 1-2. We talk about random things Magic related, like Brainstorm and Planeswalker Points.
Round 1 vs. Stephen with the mirror
That's right, the first recorded Manaless Dredge mirror in history. Stephen's playing a Bauble variant.
G1— I win the roll and draw first, opening with Chancellor of the Annex. Forcing him to play first and opening with Chancellor buys me more than enough time to kill him with recurring dudes and Zombie tokens (I believe on turn four).
G2— I side in the LED package, along with the Macabres. He puts me on the play, but I fortunately open a hand with LED and Wraith. I play both and dredge very, very well into three Nether Shadows with three creatures to put on top of all of them. I brick on dredgers the following turn, but I DR a Sphinx to bin the ones in my hand (and generate tokens while I still assuredly can) and luckily draw a Macabre in the process, the final nail in the coffin. I win on the next turn.
After the match, Stephen and I have a lengthy discussion about the deck.
1-0, 2-0
Round 2 vs. Bennett with UW Stoneblade/Snapcaster
Bennett's a year younger than me and went to my high school. This is the third tournament in a row that we're playing each other.
G1— Not much to say; it was a usual Dredge vs. blue game one. He gets out Batterskull, but I have more than enough firepower to overcome it.
I'm sitting next to Stephen, the guy who I played last round, and he winds up playing the mirror match again. In a thirty-plus person tourney, there were three Manaless players, and two mirror matches in the first two rounds. Crazy stuff.
G2— I side in the Macabres because of Snapcaster, and swap FKZ with the Iona I decided to play for whatever baseless reason. He correctly puts me on the play. He Surgical Extractions my first discard, and buys enough time by Pathing/STPing my first two recurring creatures to win via Batterskull.
G3— He has an Extraction again for my first discard, but I have the Street Wraith to counter it. I continue to slowroll dredge while he casts a Snapcaster, flashes back Extraction, and removes all of my Nether Shadow. I continue slowrolling, and he has two Path for my first two recurring creatures again, but he's not applying any serious pressure whatsoever. I eventually get four creatures out, Therapy him for countermagic, and DR Sphinx. I assemble a huge armada of tokens, with more than enough business in the 'yard for lethal. I also DR back Iona naming blue (which I believe was correct; he had Snapcaster+the land that bounces Wizards in play along with two Path and a Brainstorm in the 'yard), stupidly neglecting the tapped Karakas he had in play, but it didn't matter at that point. He doesn't draw an Extraction, and I take the game the next turn.
2-0, 4-1
Round 3 vs. Michael with NO RUG
G1— Another standard Dredge vs. Blue game one.
My former high school frisbee coach Martin Lohman is sitting next to me. Back when Mystical Tutor was legal, he used to bring his ANT deck to school when he was a student-teacher just so he could whoop a few of the kids playing with their casual decks. He tells me he's disappointed in me for my deck choice. :frown:
G2— I side in just Blazing Archon, taking out FKZ. He correctly puts me on the play. I get off to an average start, but he drops a turn three Scavenging Ooze and leaves up a green mana at every moment I could cast a sorcery for the rest of the game, forcing me to play more conservatively, lest I be vanquished. I can't overcome it after two or three turns, and succumb to the gelatinous being.
G3— I dredge into two Narcomoeba on turn two after Probing him twice (he countered the first one with Daze, but the second one got through), seeing Fire//Ice, Natural Order, and Scavenging Ooze. I Therapy him with no Bridges in my yard. He Fires my other Narcomoeba. I take the Ooze. He casts a Brainstorm the next turn, but can't find any gas, and I win in short order.
3-0, 6-2
Round 4 vs. Dana with Affinity
Dana is unfortunately not wearing one of his awesome trademark anti-Obama shirts (it's funny because Minneapolis is a pretty liberal city). I tend to be liberal-leaning on many issues even though I really don't give a fuck about politics, and I just think it's funny as hell.
G1— I open an excellent hand of Phantasmagorian, GGT, and Street Wraith. He mounts some early pressure and gets me down to ten by turn three. He even has the Galvanic Blast for one of his Ornithopter to remove two of my Bridges during my draw step, but because of Phantasmagorian, I have more than enough creatures to DR Sphinx into another Sphinx into Zealot for the turn three kill.
G2— He correctly puts me on the play and opens with a turn one Relic. I mulligan and have the turn two Phantasmagorian to bypass it somewhat, but that in turn gives him more than enough time to assemble a lethal strike force before I can really do anything.
G3— He plays a land and passes. I discard a dredger. He unfortunately has another Relic and easily takes the game because of it, as I didn't really have anything to combat it with.
3-1, 7-4
Round 5 vs. Ian "The Warrior" Ellis
I heard Ian randomly singing "Booty Butt Cheeks" by Thugnificent earlier in the night and sang along with him, which really put a smile on my face as I hadn't heard that song in years (a link to the song if you're interested). He's been in the Minneapolis Magic scene for a very long time and IIRC took down a Standard SCG Open a few years ago with Jund. He's usually playing some version of Junk, so I put him on that.
G1— I open with a Chancellor. He plays a Mox Diamond to rid himself of the Force Spike trigger, plays a land, and passes. I discard a GGT and pass back. He plays a Bojuka Bog, exiles my GGT, and passes back. I discard Stankweed Imp and say, "Go". He drops a Scavenging Ooze with a green up to exile my Imp and it's all she wrote. An amusing game one.
G2— I have to mulligan. He fetches and announces that he's going to cast Scavenging Ooze on turn two while searching for the land, but is just messing with my mind to scare me to amuse himself and casts Stoneforge instead. I discard on my turn, and it turns out, like I kind of suspected, he was just slowrolling the Ooze and casts it on turn three with a green up, sealing the deal.
3-2, 7-6
After the round, Ian, being the extremely fucking awesome guy that he is, slips me five dollars out of the ~$14-20 dollar prize (depends on attendance) everyone who's X-1 or better at the end of the night gets, in essence paying for my entry. Thanks again, man.
I won every roll so I never had to run into the player familiarity issue. Chancellor was pretty awesome all night.
Also, I'd just like to note that I highly recommend every aspiring Magic player get some Zubaz; the amount of comfort they provide is great in aiding in concentration and examination of board states. Here is a picture of some if you are unfamiliar with them. In addition, I just found out that they were created by two Minneapolis-based professional wrestlers back in the late '80s, proving once again that Minnesota is indeed the greatest state of them all.
My thinking was players wont play around Bojuka Bog game 2 because they wouldn't know it's in our SBs as a 4x and it's the only "other" uncounterable answer to graveyard threats which ignores their Force of Will and Daze (unlike Surgical Extraction). It's probably "too much," but I can't think of another anti-graveyard SB card that lets us DDD, is 0 cost and doesn't require us to tip it off by playing it pre-emptively. Being a land is kind of tangential, I was actually thinking about playing Wasteland in Manaless as a pretty good all purpose SB card.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywood
Actually Ravenous Trap cuts off Careful Study, so maybe that's the best way to go if I want hate 9+
@Kevin
I only think Desperate Ravings is better than Deep Analysis in gold fishing, resolving a turn 1 Lion's Eye Diamond by default to no Force of Will or Daze in hand only to get your Desperate Raving Spell Snared is kind of an unnecessary point of interaction vs. blue.dec and also Lion's Eye Diamond protects Deep Analysis vs Daze as well.
That aside, yeah I'm finding Chancellor of the Annex to be my favorite MD card in the four flex slots after Gitaxian Probe, and it also helps protect the deck from early disruption like Duress or the auto-lock out like Relic of Progenitus. And as stubborn as I am regarding LED/DA I do play the Gitaxian Probe + ??? lists as well and have nothing against them.