4 Card Blind

Ranking for round 11

Rank. Player: Score - SP:
1. GoblinSmashmaster: 31 - 4,4
2. FTW: 26 - 3,7
3. Asthereal (TO): 25 - 3,6
4. Tylert: 22 - 3,1
5. square_two: 20 - 2,9
6. Unlif3: 13 - 1,9
7. Wrath of Pie: 8 - 1,1
8. H: 4 - 0,6

Which leads to these standings in the season:
1. GoblinSmashmaster: 35,8
2. Unlif3: 30,3
3. Wrath of Pie: 29,4
4. FTW: 29,1
5. square_two: 27,3
6. Tylert: 26,3
7. H: 26,1
8. Asthereal (TO): 24,1

So yeah, GoblinSmashmaster is sort of champion already. But hey, a theoretical chance is still a chance!
All other spots are still in heavy contention, so there's plently to play for for almost everybody.
Soo... final round. Let's go!


Round 12 of 4CB Season 4, The Block Tour - part 2, has started. For this final round we shall play Modern Masters "block" (Modern Masters, Modern Masters 2015, Modern Masters 2017)!
Note: there are no basic lands in this "block", but I have decided that standard basic lands (Island, Forest, Plains, Mountain and Swamp) are all legal.

I have PM'ed myself my deck for round 12, so you can start sending me your decks.

DEADLINE: Saturday the 28th of December, at 11:00AM Central European Time.
(Yup, that's not standard. Also, it's my time zone. Pacific Time it'll probably be something like Friday night a bit past midnight, so keep that in mind.)

PLEASE NOTE:
The way you send your deck to me matters. Please send it in the way described below, so it doesn't cost me an hour of editing before I can post all the decks.
Please send your deck as follows: Swamp, Mountain, Blightspeaker, Combust (so with card tags around each card, and not above eachother), with your Username and 4CB S04R12 in the topic.
Many of you already do this. Thanks a lot, this really saves me a lot of time and hassle of copying and pasting text and tags!

After the deadline has passed, I will post all decks on the forum here, and you can start puzzling out your scores.
If you have any questions, please read the first two posts of this thread first. If you can't find the answer there, drop a message here. We'll answer a.s.a.p.

Also, if you've been lurking on this thread and looking to join, you can step in anytime, any round. That's no problem at all. Just send me your deck before the deadline, and I'll add you to the competition. :smile:

Happy deck designing everybody! :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Asthereal

Round 12 of 4CB Season 4, The Block Tour - part 2, has started. For this final round we shall play Modern Masters "block" (Modern Masters, Modern Masters 2015, Modern Masters 2017)!
Note: there are no basic lands in this "block", but I have decided that standard basic lands (Island, Forest, Plains, Mountain and Swamp) are all legal.

---

Here I was, trying to figure out mana without basic lands, and you had to make all that effort for naught.

I look forward to Tylert breaking the round with Aether Vial somehow.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wrath of Pie

Here I was, trying to figure out mana without basic lands, and you had to make all that effort for naught.

---

Yeah, sorry about that. I briefly considered leaving them out, and it's definitely possible, but basic lands are such a big part of MtG it felt wrong to leave them out.
Also, Modern Masters (obviously) isn't a block, and all proper blocks always have basics.

In a bannathon, where banning cards is the main thing we do, it makes more sense to allow them to leave, but in any format I've seen in all my MtG days, basics were always legal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wrath of Pie

Here I was, trying to figure out mana without basic lands, and you had to make all that effort for naught.

I look forward to Tylert breaking the round with Aether Vial somehow.

---

Ahaha... I'll probably submit something balsy this round. I haven't checked yet what you can do with Vial thought :)

Deadline has passed, but I'm missing two entries.
I'll give you guys a few more hours, but don't wait too long!

And we're complete, so here we go:

DECKS FOR THE FINALE: ROUND 12 (Modern Masters "block")

1. Asthereal (TO): Swamp, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
2. Tylert: Blinkmoth nexus, Izzet Boilerworks, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Emrakul, the aeons torn
3. square_two: Academy Ruins, Izzet Boilerworks, Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb
4. Wrath of Pie: Blinkmoth Nexus, Swamp, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
5. H: Mountain, Boros Garrison, Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner
6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
7. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Brass, Durkwood Baloth, Inquisition of Kozilek, Path to Exile
8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives

Please post your scores and cross-check with the opponents.
I'll update the Google Spreadsheet for the season, so you can enter your scores there as well: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Thanks for doing this over the holidays! Happy holidays everyone!

8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives

To simplify the matchup math, my deck basically does 2 things:
-EE recursion. I can blow up EE @ 0 or 1 the turn I play it, or play EE @ 2 and blow it next turn.
-Ravager Grow: EOT or Upkeep I tap Academy Ruins and pay UB to put EE on top of my library. Draw EE. Play EE @ 0. Sac EE to Ravager for +1 counter. The result is a +1+/1 counter per turn.


1. Asthereal (TO): You IoK EE and play Bitterblossom. I get it back. EE @ 2 kills Bitterblossom or EE @ 0 cleans up the Faeries. I haven't worked through all the lines, but in each line I worked through I found a way to disrupt you enough until Ravager Grow beatdown outraces Blinkmoth. Lifeloss from Bitterblossom is relevant! WW 6-0

2. Tylert: I can't kill Jhoira. Maybe I can race? OTP I play T3 Ravager + EE @ 0 and sac it (2/2). You have T3 Jhoira. Ravager grows to 3/3 and attacks [T=17]. You suspend Emrakul for 4 turns. Ravager grows to 4/4 [T=13]. 3 time counters. Ravager 5/5 [T=8]. 2 time counters. Ravager 6/6 [T=2]. 1 time counter. Ravager 7/7, but you can chump with Blinkmoth or Jhoira. You cast Emrakul, take an extra turn, and win. LL 0-6

3. square_two: You have the better threat (Spellbomb), but Ravager Grow is a big enough threat that I think I can force you to waste your recursion to keep killing Ravager instead of killing me. If you try to optimize your mana and do 2 things in one turn (e.g. EE @ 2 + Spellbomb), you have to leave Spellbomb on the board, then I can EE @ 1 and kill it immediately, preventing you from damaging me. If you play out Spellbomb to damage me, I get tempo to start pushing Ravager. I think we just keep negating each other and draw. DD 2-2

4. Wrath of Pie: Same As Thereal. WW 6-0
5. H: EE is useless. Ravager Grow is too slow to stop both Reckoners, due to the damage trigger. LL 0-6
6. Unlif3: EE @ 2 kills Spellskite. EE @ 1 kills Death's Shadow, if you bother to waste life to enable it. Ravager Grow outraces Blinkmoth. WW 6-0
7. GoblinSmashmaster: EE can't touch the Baloth. Ravager can sac itself to avoid Exile. I grow Ravager to race and beat the Baloth when it resolves. If you time PtE well, you force me to lose Ravager just as Baloth resolves and attacks. I can recover Ravager, but not fast enough to stop the 5/5 Baloth. LL 0-6

20 points?? (6 wins, 2 draws)

1. Asthereal (TO): Swamp, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
Heh, I was afraid of exactly this deck. I really thought about submitting this, but it kinda seemed loose in the IoK mirror. Anyway, I lose this 0-6.

2. Tylert: Blinkmoth nexus, Izzet Boilerworks, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Emrakul, the aeons torn
No Aether Vial ?! Oh alright. Let's race then.
If i'm OTD :
T1 Blinkmoth / Blinkmoth
T2 Boilerworks, bounce Blinkmoth / Cavern on Avatar, cast Skite.
T3 Blinkmoth, Jhoira. / Cast Shadow, holding priority to target the spell 8 times with Skite. Un.life=4, Shadow is a 9/9.
T4 Suspend Emmy. (suspension=4) / activate Blinkmoth, swing, you chump Shadow with Jhoira. (T.life=19)
T5 suspension = 3 / activate Blinkmoth, swing, you chump Shadow with Blinkmoth. (T.life=18)
T6 suspension = 2 / activate Blinkmoth, target the activated with Skite (Un.life=2), swing, (T.life=6)
T7 suspension = 1 / Tylert = dead
I'm obv half a turn OTP, which nets me a 6-0.

3. square_two: Academy Ruins, Izzet Boilerworks, Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb
What an elegant submission.
Each of my threat can be met with an answer, EE can handily be cast and activated on the same turn to take DS off the board, which ensures the 0-6.

4. Wrath of Pie: Blinkmoth Nexus, Swamp, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
See Asthereal. 0-6

5. H: Mountain, Boros Garrison, Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner
Interesting. Math ahead.

T1 Blinkmoth / Mountain
T2 CoS > Avatar, cast Skite / Garrison, bounce Mountain
T3 Cast Shadow, hold priority and target the spell 5 times (it took me a bit of time to realize this was the correct value, I'll come back below to why) Un.life=10, DS is 3/3 / cast Reckoner
T4 Attack with Shadow only. If you block, we trade on the ground, I redirect the triggered 3 damage from Reckoner (whatever the target) to Skite which handily enough is a 0/4 and from there your other Reckoner is just body-walled by Skite while Blinkmoth kills you in the air.

So let's assume Shadow is 3/3 and you don't block. What I can do then is pump Shadow before damage - I however need an activated or triggered ability, that's why I kept Blinkmoth at bay.

If I go to 3 life, Shadow is 10/10, you're one Shadow-strike from lethal. On your turn, you cast your second Reckoner.
From there, you can't afford to threaten the double block later, or else you can't attack and Blinkmoth chunks you down. You can't attack with the off-sickness Reckoner because it will just get chumped by Skite, so I guess you just pass to wait for the sickness to wear off.
At that point I can't attack with Shadow either or the double block kills me, so I attack with Blinkmoth alone.
If you strike back with both Reckoners, I can body-block one with Skite, block one with Shadow and pay 2 life (Un.life=1) to redirect the Reckoner trigger onto Skite, which dies, then strike through your tapped-out board ftw. If you don't move, Blinkmoth kills you in 10 turns.

My guess is you being on the play doesn't change anything to the situation, because even if you would then be in a position to strike first, you would still get bodied by Skite.

WW 6-0 ?

6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
That's me!

7. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Brass, Durkwood Baloth, Inquisition of Kozilek, Path to Exile
I built to circumvent Path, not IoK + Path. 0-6.

8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives
See square_two. 0-6.

A disappointing 12 points for the last round, which will most probably cost me my #2 seed :(

Asthereal scores for the final round:

1. Asthereal (TO): Swamp, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
That's me.
2. Tylert: Blinkmoth nexus, Izzet Boilerworks, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Emrakul, the aeons torn
Inquisition Jhoira, should be straightforward from there. 6-0
3. square_two: Academy Ruins, Izzet Boilerworks, Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb
Interesting deck. This beats me, I think. EDIT: Thought wrong. Bomb can only be used once every two turns so I still get to attack the other turn, which is enough for the draws. 2-2
4. Wrath of Pie: Blinkmoth Nexus, Swamp, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
Being first to cast Bitterblossom loses to the life loss. So yeah, I think whether we INquisition eachother or not, this will be two draws. 2-2
5. H: Mountain, Boros Garrison, Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner
Inquisition one Reckoner. Bitterblossom gets really close to beating the other one OTD. 3-3
6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
Inquisition your Shadow. Bitterblossom wins it. 6-0
7. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Brass, Durkwood Baloth, Inquisition of Kozilek, Path to Exile
OTP Inquisition your Inquisition and win. OTD you Inquisition my Bitterblossom and you win? 3-3
8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives
This one's a bit complicated. See calcs below. You win twice. 0-6

Total: 22 points


Against FTW, OTP:
A: Swamp, Inquisition Explosives.
F: Ruins.
A: Nexus, Bitterblossom.
F: Aqueduct, bounce Ruins.
A: A=19, 1 token, attack with Nexus, F=19.
F: Use Ruins to retrieve Explosives.
A: A=18, 2nd token, attack with Nexus and 1 token, F=17.
F: Draw Explosives, cast Explosives for 2.
A: A=17, 3rd token, attack with Nexus and 2 tokens, F=14.
F: Blow up Explosives, kills Bitterblossom.
A: Attack with 3 tokens and Nexus, F=11.
F: Use Ruins to retrieve Explosives.
A: Attack with 3 tokens and Nexus, F=7.
F: Draw Explosives, cast for 0.
A: Attack with 3 tokens and Nexus, F blows up Explosives, killing all tokens. Nexus lives because "non-land" and Nexus is still a land. F=6.
F: Cast Ravager.
A: Attack, F=5.
F: Upkeep retrieve Explosives. Draw and cast for 0. Sac to Ravager, Ravager=2/2. Attack, A=15.
A: Attack, F=4.
F: Upkeep retrieve Explosives. Draw and cast for 0. Sac to Ravager, Ravager=3/3. Attack, A=12.
A: Attack, F=3.
F: Upkeep retrieve Explosives. Draw and cast for 0. Sac to Ravager, Ravager=4/4. Attack, A=8.
A: Attack, F=2.
F: Upkeep retrieve Explosives. Draw and cast for 0. Sac to Ravager, Ravager=5/5. Attack, A=3.
A: Attack, F=1.
F: Upkeep retrieve Explosives. Draw and cast for 0. Sac to Ravager, Ravager=6/6. Attack, A dies. Wow, that was close!

Everything else I came up with is either one or two turns slower.

BalothSmashmaster Results for Round "Nobody escapes the Spanish Inquisition!"

1. Asthereal (TO): Swamp, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
Discard Bitterblossom 3-3

2. Tylert: Blinkmoth nexus, Izzet Boilerworks, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Emrakul, the aeons torn
Discard Jhoira 6-0

3. square_two: Academy Ruins, Izzet Boilerworks, Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb
Discard Spellbomb 6-0

4. Wrath of Pie: Blinkmoth Nexus, Swamp, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
Discard Bitterblossom 3-3

5. H: Mountain, Boros Garrison, Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner
Discard Boros Reckoner & Path the other 6-0

6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
Discard Death's Shadow & Path Spellskite 6-0

7. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Brass, Durkwood Baloth, Inquisition of Kozilek, Path to Exile
That's me!

8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives
Discard & Path Ravager 6-0

Total points: 36

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Unlif3

6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
That's me!

---

Looking at your deck a bit longer confused me somewhat.

Is it possible to use Spellskite's ability on itself, just to lose life for Death's Shadow?
My reasoning is as follows: The ability requires a spell or ability with a target that's on the stack that we can change the target of.
Spellskite's ability cannot be activated if there's no spell or ability for it to target, so logic would say it can't be activated without something else on the stack.

Any ideas on how this works?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Asthereal

Looking at your deck a bit longer confused me somewhat.

Any ideas on how this works?

---

Blinkmoth Nexus can animate and target itself, putting an activated ability with a target on the stack. Spellskite's ability should be able to target that, even though Spellskite is not a legal target (it will fizzle).

Edit: Correct Spellskite rules below.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Asthereal

Looking at your deck a bit longer confused me somewhat.

Is it possible to use Spellskite's ability on itself, just to lose life for Death's Shadow?
My reasoning is as follows: The ability requires a spell or ability with a target that's on the stack that we can change the target of.
Spellskite's ability cannot be activated if there's no spell or ability for it to target, so logic would say it can't be activated without something else on the stack.

Any ideas on how this works?

---

You need any spell, activated or triggered ability for this to work. The beauty of the trick is the activated or triggered ability itself does not need to even have a target.
Source: https://blogs.magicjudges.org/articl...ms-spellskite/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FTW

Blinkmoth Nexus can animate and target itself, putting an activated ability with a target on the stack. Spellskite's ability should be able to target that, even though Spellskite is not a legal target (it will fizzle).

That means he can't lose life immediately after casting Spellskite. If he doesn't untap with it, he can't use it and can't play Death's Shadow. He has to curve out:

T2 - Spellskite
T3 - Animate, put ability on stack, pay life
T4 - Death's Shadow
T5 - Attack with Death's Shadow, holding open the possibility to pay more life to grow it.

---

No:
I curve T2 Skite into T3 cast Shadow, hold priority, activating N times Spellskite's ability on the Death's Shadow spell itself, losing 2N life.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Unlif3

T2 Boilerworks, bounce Blinkmoth / Cavern on Avatar, cast Skite.
T3 Blinkmoth, Jhoira. / Cast Shadow, holding priority to target the spell 8 times with Skite. Un.life=4, Shadow is a 9/9.

---

Edit: Apparently I was wrong. I'm thinking of cards like Deflection, but Spellskite's wording is different. It's not "target spell with a target".

Weekends are kind of busy here for me, but I am not exactly sure that a Bitterblossom can race a Boros Reckoner, but it might be able to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by H

Weekends are kind of busy here for me, but I am not exactly sure that a Bitterblossom can race a Boros Reckoner, but it might be able to.

---

H - Land
A - IoK Reckoner

H - Bounce land
A - Bitterblossom

H - Reckoner
A - 1 Faerie. Attack with Blinkmoth [H=19, A=19]

H - Attack for 3 [A=16]
A - 2 Faeries. Attack for 2 with Blinkmoth + 1 token [H=17, A=15]

H - Attack for 3 [A=12]
A - 3 Faeries. Attack for 3 [H=14, A=11]

H - Attack for 3 [A=8]
A - 4 Faeries. Attack for 4 [H=10, A=7]

H - Attack for 3. [A=4]
A - 5 Faeries. Attack for 5 [H=5, A=3]

H - Attack for 3. Chumped by untapped Faerie. Reckoner triggers, killing a Faerie to stay alive.
A - 4 Faeries. Attack for 4 [H=1, A=2]

H - Attack for 3. Chumped by untapped Faerie. Reckoner triggers at face for 1. [A=1]
A - Bitterblossom kills [A=0, H=1]

I think H wins this going first and Asthereal wins going first. WL 3-3

Asthereal could try chumping earlier, but then Reckoner kills 2 Faeries per turn and I don't see that racing any better.

I get whatever Asthereal gets.

There was also a lack of Aether Vial from someone and I am let down by that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FTW

H - Land
A - IoK Reckoner

H - Bounce land
A - Bitterblossom

H - Reckoner
A - 1 Faerie. Attack with Blinkmoth [H=19, A=19]

H - Attack for 3 [A=16]
A - 2 Faeries. Attack for 2 with Blinkmoth + 1 token [H=17, A=15]

H - Attack for 3 [A=12]
A - 3 Faeries. Attack for 3 [H=14, A=11]

H - Attack for 3 [A=8]
A - 4 Faeries. Attack for 4 [H=10, A=7]

H - Attack for 3. [A=4]
A - 5 Faeries. Attack for 5 [H=5, A=3]

H - Attack for 3. Chumped by untapped Faerie. Reckoner triggers, killing a Faerie to stay alive.
A - 4 Faeries. Attack for 4 [H=1, A=2]

H - Attack for 3. Chumped by untapped Faerie. Reckoner triggers at face for 1. [A=1]
A - Bitterblossom kills [A=0, H=1]

I think H wins this going first and Asthereal wins going first. WL 3-3

Asthereal could try chumping earlier, but then Reckoner kills 2 Faeries per turn and I don't see that racing any better.

---

I'm a bit sick right now. Looks like I'm missing a lot of things.
So we play 3-3?

3. square_two: Academy Ruins, Izzet Boilerworks, Engineered Explosives, Pyrite Spellbomb

1. Asthereal (TO): Swamp, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
DD
I can blow up Bitterblossom and tokens, and blast the Blinkmoth...although I can do 2 every other turn to your face, could you attack me with the moth on the turn that I have to recur the bomb? That might eek out some damage for you to draw it out. Can't EE the land critter.

Testing OTD...

A: Swamp, Inquisition EE
S: Academy, Bomb

A: Nexus, Bitterblossom
S: bounceland

A: A19 1 token, swing with moth S19
S: Academy, ready to recur EE at end of your turn (force you to not use moth due to active bomb)

A: A18 2 tokens, swing with 1 token S18
S: draw EE, play with 2 counters

A: A17 3 tokens, swing w/ 2 + moth S15
S: nuke blossom, EE in grave

A: swing with 3 tokens + moth S11
S: ready to recur EE

A: swing with 3 tokens (not moth) S8
S: deploy bomb at 0, nuke the faerie tokens, use leftover R to hit you A15

A: attack with moth S7
S: A is at 15, S at 7...I can do 2 damage every other turn to face, but you can do 1 every other turn with moth. Uh...recur bomb

A: attack with moth S6
S: bomb ready but wait so you cant attack

A: pass, EOT I bomb you A13
S: recur bomb

and this repeats..

S5
A11
S4
A9
S3
A7
S2
A5
S1
and there I have to draw out and not hit your face anymore.

Extra turn I get on the play, I don't think it changes things.

2. Tylert: Blinkmoth nexus, Izzet Boilerworks, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Emrakul, the aeons torn
WW
Bomb Jhoira once she hits. From there, I can do 2 damage every other turn but you can do only 1 every other.

4. Wrath of Pie: Blinkmoth Nexus, Swamp, Inquisition of Kozilek, Bitterblossom
DD
Same as above.

5. H: Mountain, Boros Garrison, Boros Reckoner, Boros Reckoner
LL
Stomps on me. I almost played Cathodion instead of EE, that would be a 3/3...but first strike would still take care of it, huh.

6. Unlif3: Cavern of Souls, Blinkmoth Nexus, Death's Shadow, Spellskite
WW
I can handle those I think.

7. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Brass, Durkwood Baloth, Inquisition of Kozilek, Path to Exile
LL
Don't think I can handle the Baloth. Guess Cathodion still wouldn't help since it would be Path'd.

8. FTW: Academy Ruins, Dimir Aqueduct, Arcbound Ravager, Engineered Explosives
DD
Tried to puzzle this one out some more but I think it's a draw.

Total: 18

Thanks for the fun, everyone! I'll be bowing out onward. Trying to sell my collection of paper MTG and get on to other things. If you are interested in perusing, I've got a google sheets list, just PM me and I'll send link. Don't want to break any rules by posting here.