4 Card Blind: The Silkster Seasons

[silkster]

I don't think GSM ever gets to block. Any creature vialed in will be bounced before blockers. Evoked Endurance dies immediately to itself.

But cat tokens being legendary is a good point. I think this means that the race is a bit tighter, and GSM will definitely get some attacks in while Karakas is clearing out blockers. I still think the cats do 3 dmg and gain 2 while Endurance or Bombardiers only do 2 or 3. This does mean that the ocelot is exposed to a thrown vial, but then the other cats have a clear path.

[FTW]

There's no defense against throwing Endurance @ Ocelot & getting Endurance back. Throwing/flinging, not blocking.

See the line I posted for tirrit's match. GSM can play around Karakas to always get a Bombardiers attack.

EOT Vial in Bombardiers
Untap
If Karakas bounces before attack: Vial Bombardiers again, attack, evoke Endurance & fling it at Ocelot.
If Karakas bounces after attack: Vial Endurance & fling it at Ocelot.

Either way Ocelot dies, Vial stays, Endurance is redrawn.

Then it's Sacred Cat + 1 token vs Bombardiers + Endurance.

The question is then if there are more tactics to blast the other creatures, or if Karakas is enough to prevent that & let the cats safely attack & reduce it to a race.

Complicated match. Maybe dte has worked through the math?

[silkster]

Oh, evoke it in to throw it. Yeah, I totally missed that.

Against that, there's the line to hold up Karakas to defensively bounce the ocelot. That means that Karakas won't be used that turn cycle, which lets vial get ahead in creatures. Then again, if Bombardiers have to be attacking, maybe the other two cats stay home to block.

But also Karakas can't be used offensively to push through attackers and to bounce the ocelot.

Okay, I think I see how the cats can't win.

[tirrit]

There's no defense against throwing Endurance @ Ocelot & getting Endurance back. Throwing/flinging, not blocking.

See the line I posted for tirrit's match. GSM can play around Karakas to always get a Bombardiers attack.

EOT Vial in Bombardiers
Untap
If Karakas bounces before attack: Vial Bombardiers again, attack, evoke Endurance & fling it at Ocelot.
If Karakas bounces after attack: Vial Endurance & fling it at Ocelot.

Either way Ocelot dies, Vial stays, Endurance is redrawn.

Then it's Sacred Cat + 1 token vs Bombardiers + Endurance.

The question is then if there are more tactics to blast the other creatures, or if Karakas is enough to prevent that & let the cats safely attack & reduce it to a race.

Complicated match. Maybe dte has worked through the math?

Evoke endurance is neat, and it does kill the ocelot, but it's not repeatable, so from there cats attack, then karakas bounces goblins before attacks to prevent the endurance trick. If goblins get vialed in to attack, and sac vial to kill the token, the last cat will win after karakas bounces everything. If goblins attack and don't sac, then dte takes 2, but he untaps and attacks for 2 and gains 1. Then on goblins turn they are faced with the exact same scenario and they are losing the race. If goblins don't get vialed in, then dte attacks on his turn. If a creature is vialed in, it will get bounced before blocks. Then on goblins next turn they have vial available and karakas is tapped, so they can attack for 2 if they want but again they are losing the race. If they don't attack for 2, then they're in the same spot where they can't block because karakas will bounce before blocks.

I'm pretty sure cats win WW

[dte]

Reeplcheep: Ratchet Bomb, City of Traitors, Patchwork Automaton, Drillworks Mole, comment: Robots
0-6, well done

dte: Sacred cat, Ocelot pride, Karakas, Leyline of Singularity, comment: Cats smash!
Me. I was so sure black would be overrepresented with force of despair / unmask, thoughtseize, etc. Turned out no one played it. And rightly so, it wouldn't have been great.

Wrath of Pie: Saprazzan Cove, Temporal Adept, Phantasmal Dreadmaw, Phantasmal Dragon, comment:
6-0
6

Tirrit: Leyline of Singularity, Karakas, The Millennium Calendar, Curse of Silence, comment: White Thoughtseize
0-6, the better version of leyline/karakas

Silkster: Dwarven Hold, Shivan Gorge, Maze of Ith, Maze of Ith, comment: HELIOS makes Gorge too fast
0-6, I regret my icatian javelineer here!

GoblinSmashmaster: Aether Vial, Broadside Bombardiers, Endurance, Chancellor of the Tangle, comment:
6-0 I think? I read the arguments, and Tirrit's one made sense to me. But before reading it, FTW's one did too :/ I don't have the brain capacity right now to come up with anything better. I just thought that if I karakas anything on sight (no wait or defensive, as soon as something I don't see options for gob except the one shot kill of ocelot, and then losing the race.
12

FTW: Leyline of Singularity, Karakas, Cenn's Tactician, Force of Will, comment:
2-2, didn't expect we would be so many on the leyline/karakas side.

14 points if it is WW vs gob.

[silkster]

I read tirrit's reply last night and I was unconvinced. Then I thought about it a bit and I was convinced. This morning I went back when I realized that vialed in Endurance could be thrown repeatedly. This afternoon I realized that vial never has enough time.

If Karakas is used aggressively every time, then GSM has to use vial to play the haste guy to get attacks. One Endurance throw means it's Bombardiers racing against Sacred Cat and the cat token. Which is what Tirrit said, but I need to think through it and rephrase it for myself to understand it.

We can continue to discuss this matchup, but regardless Reeplcheep is so far ahead that this result doesn't affect the next round. The last two decks are banned and also the power 7. I won't be able to post lists on Tuesday. I'm going to say the deadline is Wednesday at the same time, but I'm also not completely sure when I'll be able to post that day.

[tirrit]

Show and Tell & Unburial Rites were on my radar, but most builds lose to Karakas, and the ones that dodge Karakas lose to Force. Show and Tell Progenitus is also surprisingly bad against 8+ 1/1 tokens.

I was thinking about this recently, and I don't see why progenitus is bad vs tokens. It's unblockable and kills in 2 hits, right? This means it beats 10 or fewer 1/1s on the draw (since it can block one), or 19 or fewer 1/1s on the play, I think. You're right that it loses to FoW though - another reason I didn't want to play it. Also if I'm being honest, I didn't even think about storming off with tokens. Seems like a pretty good idea for that round, though!

[FTW]

dte concluded 6-0, GSM hasn't disagreed, and tirrit's reply made sense to me.

I was thinking about this recently, and I don't see why progenitus is bad vs tokens. It's unblockable and kills in 2 hits, right? This means it beats 10 or fewer 1/1s on the draw (since it can block one), or 19 or fewer 1/1s on the play, I think. You're right that it loses to FoW though - another reason I didn't want to play it. Also if I'm being honest, I didn't even think about storming off with tokens. Seems like a pretty good idea for that round, though!

Good point, it needs at least Empty for 12 to win. Eldrazi are usually better vs tokens by annihilating, but Progentius still races 8 1/1s. With Lotus banned, I don't know if it's still even possible to make a very large number of tokens on turn 1. Maybe that's why GSM didn't play Empty. I was just surprised not to see tokens vs Tabernacle.

[dte]

Between 3 Lleyline of Singularity and ratchet bomb out of 7 decks, tokens were waited for.

On Empty, 8 gobs T1 are easy, more seem complicated. You could also do 3 prowess 4/4 dragons.

[FTW]

Reeplcheep is so far ahead that this result doesn't affect the next round. The last two decks are banned and also the power 7. I won't be able to post lists on Tuesday. I'm going to say the deadline is Wednesday at the same time, but I'm also not completely sure when I'll be able to post that day.

Did the round close?

[dte]

Did the round close?

I think Thursday is after Wednesday?

[FTW]

I think Thursday is after Wednesday?

Thursday is before next Wednesday though, and silkster never posted a salted hash. I now wonder if the round was meant for next week, or if it's just a busy schedule and the round is this week.

[dte]

Thursday is before next Wednesday though, and silkster never posted a salted hash. I now wonder if the round was meant for next week, or if it's just a busy schedule and the round is this week.

I understood it at this week but uncertain as to when because of busyness, but might be wrong.

[tirrit]

I understood it at this week but uncertain as to when because of busyness, but might be wrong.

yeah the deadline was meant to be yesterday but he is very busy right now

[silkster]

Indeed busy, but I realize that posting this should only take a moment. I don't have the mental capacity to check legalities though, but I'm sure it's fine and we drop the bottom two scores in the season anyway. Scores coming up.

6f7b68749950997e9b58f8f4556f72ade1796550aaca866cf6a1d62d4319a1b4

[silkster]

Round 9

dte: kessig wolf run, fungal reaches, tower of the magistrate, Dryad arbor, comment: Luddite
Reeplcheep: Inkmoth Nexus, Ancient Den, Glimmervoid, Rancor, comment: Ink-redibly fast
Wrath of Pie: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Wild Evocation, Furnace Dragon, comment:
Tirrit: Memnite, Lotus Petal, Vesuva, Caustic Wasps, comment: Here's hoping for no charge/sol lands!
FTW: Teferi's Isle, Gut Shot, Tomb Trawler, Chronomaton, comment: Slow copy
GoblinSmashmaster: Dwarven Hold, Hearth Charm, Flamebreak, Goblin Cannon, comment: Bazaar banned!
Silkster: Saltcrusted Steppe, Mishra's Foundry, Engineered Explosives, Isolate, comment: floor is so hard to beat!

[dte]

dte: kessig wolf run, fungal reaches, tower of the magistrate, Dryad arbor, comment: Luddite
Me

Reeplcheep: Inkmoth Nexus, Ancient Den, Glimmervoid, Rancor, comment: Ink-redibly fast
6-0. Faster than me!
6

Wrath of Pie: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Wild Evocation, Furnace Dragon, comment:
6-0. Dragon》dryad
12

Tirrit: Memnite, Lotus Petal, Vesuva, Caustic Wasps, comment: Here's hoping for no charge/sol lands!
6-0. I have no out vs vesuva copying arbor.
18

FTW: Teferi's Isle, Gut Shot, Tomb Trawler, Chronomaton, comment: Slow copy
6-0, gut shot 》 arbor
24

GoblinSmashmaster: Dwarven Hold, Hearth Charm, Flamebreak, Goblin Cannon, comment: Bazaar banned!
6-0, flamebreak 》 arbor
30

Silkster: Saltcrusted Steppe, Mishra's Foundry, Engineered Explosives, Isolate, comment: floor is so hard to beat!
0-6, tower plus arbor beats mishra's foundry
30

I guess my best run this season, powered by not thinkink of a single other worse deck to switch to.

[FTW]

I missed the memo on 1/1 lands being the hack this round, though that makes me glad I didn't run Powder Keg!

My first thought was Null Rod, but then I thought too many players would be on artifact threats, so I played one too. Null Rod also goes 50-50 here.

dte: kessig wolf run, fungal reaches, tower of the magistrate, Dryad arbor, comment: Luddite
Gut Shot stops you WW 0-6

Reeplcheep: Inkmoth Nexus, Ancient Den, Glimmervoid, Rancor, comment: Ink-redibly fast
Gut Shot stops you WW 0-6

Wrath of Pie: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Wild Evocation, Furnace Dragon, comment:
Dragon is much faster LL 6-0

Tirrit: Memnite, Lotus Petal, Vesuva, Caustic Wasps, comment: Here's hoping for no charge/sol lands!
You can cast Wasps off my LolLand, but Gut Shot stops it WW 0-6

GoblinSmashmaster: Dwarven Hold, Hearth Charm, Flamebreak, Goblin Cannon, comment: Bazaar banned!
Hearth Charm kills my Wall and Flamebreak kills Chrono before it can grow to 4/4 (turn 9), then I can't stop the Goblin Cannon.
LL 6-0

Silkster: Saltcrusted Steppe, Mishra's Foundry, Engineered Explosives, Isolate, comment: floor is so hard to beat!
Isolate exiles Chrono, EE kills my Wall, then your 2/2 fatty laughs at GutShot LL 6-0

18 points (6 wins, 6 loss)

[tirrit]

Tirrit: Memnite, Lotus Petal, Vesuva, Caustic Wasps, comment: Here's hoping for no charge/sol lands!
I was pretty off on what was going to happen this round. I thought the obvious threat everyone would play was chronomaton, because drillworks mole is the same card in terms of how you can interact with it with removal/racing etc. This means that everyone has to come with a plan to beat chronomaton. I first thought that the only way to beat the chronomaton deck would be to play a racing threat that hopefully got hit by the removal the chronomaton deck had to play to beat the floor deck. Then I thought of vesuva, which is a way to attack the difference between chronomaton and drillworks mole: chronomaton decks (I thought) will play a land that taps for just one mana! Well, as it turns out only one person is playing chronomaton and it's off a land that taps for 2! Lmao


dte: kessig wolf run, fungal reaches, tower of the magistrate, Dryad arbor, comment: Luddite
You're right that this is 6-0, but it's actually very close: I can only attack with one creature at a time: memnite before dryad comes down and dryad afterward (with a 1 turn break between while dryad has summoning sickness/is tapped). When you are on the play, you can play dryad arbor on turn 21 to block my lethal attack with memnite. You have 19 charge counters and you charge to 20 on this turn. I don't attack because you can block and give protection. I play a tapped vesuva copy of dryad arbor. On your turn you attack me for 20 trample damage (kessig giving 19 power from 20 mana from the charge land plus 1 from tower) and I chump with memnite to survive at 1, then kill you with dryad arbor on the following turn. It's so close! Sweet deck. 0-6

Reeplcheep: Inkmoth Nexus, Ancient Den, Glimmervoid, Rancor, comment: Ink-redibly fast
I can vesuva your inkmoth nexus and threaten to block once (if you wait on the inkmoth for a turn you can get in once for 3 poison while my inkmoth is tapped, but then you'd only trample over for 2 subsequently), so you don't attack, you block memnite and then I can only ever attack once with inkmoth copy so it's a draw. 2-2

Wrath of Pie: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Wild Evocation, Furnace Dragon, comment:
dragon smashes me 6-0

FTW: Teferi's Isle, Gut Shot, Tomb Trawler, Chronomaton, comment: Slow copy
gut shot saves me from scary sol land. 6-0

GoblinSmashmaster: Dwarven Hold, Hearth Charm, Flamebreak, Goblin Cannon, comment: Bazaar banned!
dwarven hold allows me to cast caustic wasps eventually, which you can't answer with anything but goblin cannon. This forces you to cast cannon early to kill wasps, so we draw. 2-2

Silkster: Saltcrusted Steppe, Mishra's Foundry, Engineered Explosives, Isolate, comment: floor is so hard to beat!
your EE kills memnite (also I guess you can just threaten to block it). I can't charge salt crusted steppe if I copy it, so caustic wasps is off the table. I can vesuva your mishra's foundry, but I don't have the 2 mana to ever turn it into a creature. 6-0

22/36

Turns out I would have fared better just playing my chronomaton plus artifact hate deck (chronomaton, crush, vandalblast, artifact land) but I was never actually going to do that because it's so boring!

[Wrath of Pie]

Wrath of Pie: Lotus Bloom, Lotus Bloom, Wild Evocation, Furnace Dragon, comment:

dte: kessig wolf run, fungal reaches, tower of the magistrate, Dryad arbor, comment: Luddite - WW
Reeplcheep: Inkmoth Nexus, Ancient Den, Glimmervoid, Rancor, comment: Ink-redibly fast - WW
Tirrit: Memnite, Lotus Petal, Vesuva, Caustic Wasps, comment: Here's hoping for no charge/sol lands! - WW
FTW: Teferi's Isle, Gut Shot, Tomb Trawler, Chronomaton, comment: Slow copy - WW
GoblinSmashmaster: Dwarven Hold, Hearth Charm, Flamebreak, Goblin Cannon, comment: Bazaar banned! - WW
Silkster: Saltcrusted Steppe, Mishra's Foundry, Engineered Explosives, Isolate, comment: floor is so hard to beat! - WW

It's official, I am really bad at this format.