4 Card Blind: The Silkster Seasons

My apologies to Wrath of Pie who submitted a legal deck that I got wrong. I think I'm 2/5 on deck that I think are illegal. :laugh::frown:

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash!
Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!
Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment:
FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD
dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash
Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash!
WW - This is really close, so I might be wrong. I suspend one Bloom and hold the other for Show and Tell. GS makes 8 1/1s, then I make 2 4/4s. If goblins attack first, we trade 6g, 4d, 5g, 4d, 4g, 4d, 3g, 8d. If I attack first, I win because we're trading the same amount of damage each swing. If Show and Tell is held back, my one suspended Bloom eventually lands.
This is probably the better version of storm but with the weaker payoff.
Edit: I realize now that this only makes 6 goblins, though that doesn't change my result.

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!
WW - Forgot that Field of Ruin couldn't hit Swamp. I've never actually played with the card. I had Black Lotus + Sinkhole as one of my lists, which was legal because Duress could tag the sorcery.

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment:
WW - I thought this deck was illegal for a moment too, forgetting that after Duress grabs Oko, all 3 other cards are needed to make a lasting threat, so the Rat picks that apart. I even had a few decks like this among my drafts.

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD
WW - Oh right, Force of Will is a reason that this version of storm isn't totally worse.

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
LL - Another beauty. I've owned 4 Anvils from when they were in print, and I was not going to think of something like that. You're really squeezing all you can out of Mana Crypt.

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash

Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress
LL - I considered playing turn 1 Collective Brutality. I didn't like that it missed Black Lotus and Bitterblossom, so I moved away from it quickly, though who knows if that's right. I'm glad there isn't a functional equivalent to Duress, cause I think it would have ruined the round.

I was amused this week that a few old classics were legal, like Treetop Village, Golgari Rot-Farm, Assassin's Trophy, Elixir of Immortality. I didn't want to be so vulnerable to land hate, but I was on this deck for a while.

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash!
WL can’t quite stabilize even with the lifegain. Very clever deck.

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!
LL

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment:
LL

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD
Spells trade and I would win race so you hang back to draw. DD

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
Doom blade and factory trade for the two tokens and then you die to crypt. WW

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash
WW

5W 2D 5L for 17/36

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD
Spells trade and I would win race so you hang back to draw. DD

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I can Force Mox, stopping all 3 of your cards. If you don't play Mox, I play T6 3/3 and race.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reeplcheep

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
Doom blade and factory trade for the two tokens and then you die to crypt. WW

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I think it is WL: OTD you discard two cards before I make a token.

GoblinSmashmaster Results for Round "Storm"

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens
That's me, storming with Goblins!

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin
Goblins smash! 6-0

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns
Goblins smash! 6-0

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin
You use the Force :( 0-6

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga
Annexed :( 0-6

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash
Dragons are cheating :( 0-6

Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress
Goblin smash, then discard 3-3

15 goblin points!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dte

I think it is WL: OTD you discard two cards before I make a token.

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Doesn't Reeplcheep always discard two cards before you make a token? Even if you T1 Crypt + Saga + Anvil, you pass your second turn and make a token in Reeplcheeps main phase. I think the 4/4 constructs get there even if you're on the draw.

Reeplcheep; dte
T1: Factory, Mox; Saga, Crypt, Anvil
T2: discard CB, attack for 2; Crypt (20,15) Saga to 2, pass
T3: discard DB, Saga makes token; Crypt (20,12) Saga makes second token, attack for 4 (16,12)
T4: pass; Crypt (16,9); attack for 8 (8,9)
T5: Factory attacking loses to the next attack. Factory not attacking loses to the next two attacks.

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash! - LL
Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment: - WW - I did submit an Oko strategy first, before I realized that t1 Field of Ruin is way better than trying to do anything with nonbasic lands.
FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD - WW
dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment: - WW - dte still being brilliant, of course. Unfortunately, I can just let Mana Crypt kill you.
Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash - LL - I was expecting more Lotus Bloom.
Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress - WW

8w = 24 points

I stand by my comment, because the worst part of Backbuild is arguing incessantly over what you have to beat, and here you get the spirit of Backbuild without the stupid arguing.

Asthereal's results for this round:

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash! -WW
Disagreement here. Goblins don't smash, as you make only 6 and I get to dump my Thief of Existence from Show and Tell, and it single-handedly holds back your 6 gobbos. From there I have time to deploy my lands, use Factory to do the defensive duties, trade Thief for 3 tokens and then deploy Oko and trade your remaining tokens for food. (I fear you also don't win OTP against Reepl as he gets to block with Factory. He can't race though, so that's probably a draw.)

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild! -LL
Bold move to spend two cards on an LD plan with Black Lotus and Field of Ruin. Works well though. I can't beat it.

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment: <-me

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD -WW
See below for math. Cove turns out to be too slow.

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment: -LL
Nice one again. OTD I lose too many cards. OTP math below. I'm one turn too slow.

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash -LL
Can't stop this.

Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress -WW
Brutality can't get Oko, so that boy runs away with the game.

Total: 18 points

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Against FTW, OTD
F: Cove
A: Factory
F: Cove=1
A: Chamber, bounce Factory
F: Cove=2
A: Factory, cast Oko, you FoW exiling Griffin, F=19
F: Cove=3
A: Cast Thief
F: Cove=4
A: Attack for 5, F=14
F: Cast Griffin
A: Attack for 3, F=11
F: Cove=1, hold back Griffin
A: Attack for 3, F=8
F: Cove=2
A: Attack for 3, F=5
F: Cove=3
A: Attack for 3, F=2
F: Cove=4
A: Attack for 5, you can't block both.

Against dte, OTP
A: Factory
d: Crypt, Saga, Anvil
A: Discard Oko, play Chamber, bounce Factory
d: d=17, discard Chancellor, make 3/3 dude
A: Discard Thief, play Factory
d: d=14, upkeep make another token, both are 4/4 now, attack with one, A=16
A: wait
d: d=11, attack with one, A=12
A: wait
d: d=8, attack with one, A=8
A: wait
d: d=5, attack with one, A=4
A: wait
d: d=2, attack with both, I can only block one and die.

Lots of miscalculations on my part.

Only 6 goblins makes me DW vs smashmaster.

Vs DTE, if I am going to discard all my cards anyways I drain with brutality on t2 instead of attacking. So t4 is 10/9, t5 is 2/4. So on t6 I barely kill you. OTD I discard cb before I push through annex. WL

Vs ftw I get forced

So
4W 1D 7L for 13/36

GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash!
6-0, annex. Pretty smart way to play T1 EtW against this ceiling deck!
6

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!
0-6, nice LD
6

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment:
6-0, but close
12

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD
6-0, annex tax. Also the only deck present I more or less anticipated (FoW/Cove)
18

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
Me, counting in crypt. Thanks WoP and Silk for the nice words, but anvil was a mistake: the original trinisphere would have avoided 2/3rd of the losses.

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash
6-0, anvil discard
24

Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress
3-3, close encounters.
27

I thought the meta would be mostly marit lage (I had T1 trini, T2 lage) vs fow/cove vs channex/fountain. Turns out there were two storms, only one FoW, no lage, no other channex. My deck still did good!

FTW: Saprazzan Cove, Force of Will, Subtlety, Misthollow Griffin, comment: Subtly losing to LD

This was a good round to play questions that lose to Duress/Wasteland than answers that don't beat the ceiling deck. Force+Cove had to be underpowered so much it loses to too much.


GoblinSmashmaster: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens, comment: Goblin Smash!
Force on Lotus stops you. WW 6-0

Wrath of Pie: Hall of Storm Giants, Calciform Pools, Black Lotus, Field of Ruin, comment: Still better than Backbuild!
Force on Lotus slows down your LD to turn 3, still too slow for me to make a threat. LL 0-6

Asthereal: Mishra's Factory, Simic Growth Chamber, Thief of Existence, Oko, Thief of Crowns, comment:
Force Oko exiling Griffin. T6 3/3, then T12 3/3. Apparently that's exactly 1 turn too slow to stabilize against your 3/4 and Factory. LL 0-6

dte: Chancellor of the annex, Anvil of bogardan, Mana crypt, Urza's saga, comment:
Chancellor stops Force. I can still cast Force, exiling Griffin, to protect Griffin from Anvil discard. Then play T6 griffin. But that's raced by your 2 4/4s on T3. LL 0-6

Silkster: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Elemental Eruption, Black Lotus, comment: dragon smash
I'm best off Forcing an Elemental Eruption copy instead of a Lotus. You'll still get 3 4/4s on T4, which easily races my T6 3/3. LL 0-6

Reeplcheep: Mishra’s Factory, Mox Jet, Collective Brutality, Doomblade, comment: T1 duress
Force Mox stops all 4 of your cards, so my slow 3/3 gets there. WW 6-0

12 points (4 wins, 8 loss)

Can we confirm the score for the goblins? It seems they might only score 7 points, which would make them the next and possibly last ceiling deck.

I looked at the scores briefly last night and thought it would be the Force of Will deck and I had a few ideas that I liked. But losing to Show and Tell would be very interesting too.

I believe 7 for gobs to be correct.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silkster

Can we confirm the score for the goblins? It seems they might only score 7 points, which would make them the next and possibly last ceiling deck.

I looked at the scores briefly last night and thought it would be the Force of Will deck and I had a few ideas that I liked. But losing to Show and Tell would be very interesting too.

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I'm pretty sure the gobbos are in trouble. Having only 6 tokens means he can't win through a blocker that kills one per turn, as he'd get 5+4+3+2+1 damage in, and that's it.

In my case I can first drop my 3/4 with S&T, then wait until I can keep Factory behind as a blocker. From there I can attack with my 3/4, which he has to trade for 3 gobbos or he just dies.
Best case scenario he has 3 gobbos left, I then drop Oko and +2. He can hit it down to 3 loyalty. From there I keep Factory up again, and tick up Oko faster than he can kill it.
From here I just tick up until I have enough loyalty to start trading food for tokens and just win.

If he'd had 8 tokens, he'd probably have won all these, but he needed the Omniscience to not accidentally beat the CD and be disqualified. :frown:

We get to be smashed by goblins again.

Are we going to have the same extra bans?

Yes, the same extra bans apply. Oracle, lab man, empty library Jace, strip, waste, gq, and volatile fault. And the ceiling deck itself, as usual.

I think it worked well this past week, giving us lots of diversity. Black lotus, lotus bloom, mana crypt, charge land with 3 spells, 4 mana sources, land plus mox, and ravnica bounce land. It's like the whole spread!

Does it means it's started?

We seem to be in agreement about the scores, so I open Round 9:

Ceiling deck: Black Lotus, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Empty the Warrens,

All cards in the ceiling deck are banned, as well as:
Thassa's Oracle
Laboratory Maniac
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Strip Mine
Ghost Quarter
Wasteland
Volatile Fault.

I will be quite busy on Tuesday the 9th, so the deadline will be 24 hours later: Wednesday the 10th, at 11AM EDT (New York summer time).