4 Card Blind: The Silkster Seasons

[FTW]

Thanks to Show & Tell vs 6 1/1 goblins instead of 8, the banlist includes: Subtlety
Force of Will
Misthollow Griffin
Thief of Existence
Chancellor of the Annex
Chancellor of the Forge
Goblin Lackey + big goblin
Warren Instigator
Goblin Assailant

I don't envy GSM trying to find a viable Goblin deck.

At last we've reached Backbuild

[silkster]

Excuse me, you can totally play and even cast Force of Will by playing it along with Saprazzan Cove, Field of Ruin, and Phyrexian Devourer!

On a less goofy note, we might consider what we want to do after this round. I had proposed this season to be 9 rounds, and the next one I was planning on was to do the same thing with a banlist or in Legacy instead of Vintage, but then this season started folding it in on itself and required some bans. Maybe we continue as is. Also FTW might also have a season in mind.

1) Play another 9 rounds the same way we've done these last few rounds with 7 cards banned.
2) Play a new ceiling season with a larger banlist.
2b) Make a new starting ceiling deck the same way we did this time, taking the median deck from whatever people feel like submitting.
3) FTW season (probably coming back to this afterward.)

[dte]

I am happy with all options, but I would really like to see if the power level tends to climb or drop in a ceiling season. This week is the first time it clearly dropped for me, or at least it is the first week I feel I have submitted a much weaker deck. I am curious about whether it goes back to full power or not.

So if option 3 is chosen, I would like to see a couple more rounds of this season before (not necessarily 9, maybe 2 or 3).

And otherwise, big thanks and congrats on a season running perfectly smoothly!

[FTW]

On a less goofy note, we might consider what we want to do after this round. I had proposed this season to be 9 rounds, and the next one I was planning on was to do the same thing with a banlist or in Legacy instead of Vintage, but then this season started folding it in on itself and required some bans. Maybe we continue as is. Also FTW might also have a season in mind.

1) Play another 9 rounds the same way we've done these last few rounds with 7 cards banned.
2) Play a new ceiling season with a larger banlist.
2b) Make a new starting ceiling deck the same way we did this time, taking the median deck from whatever people feel like submitting.
3) FTW season (probably coming back to this afterward.)

I like options 1) and 2b).

This season's median deck may have been skewed upwards by me submitting a Tier 0 deck. Our starting Median deck didn't lose to Turn 0 discard, Strip Mine + Chancellor, or FoW + Thassa, so the season started off on a strong note. Starting with a lower powered median deck, the whole season may be very different. Imagine if the starting deck was closer to the power level of the current ceiling deck.

[silkster]

We've always played seasons with a predetermined number of rounds, but I realize now that we don't necessarily have to do that. My plan now is to declare a winner after 9 rounds in the way that I was intending, then carry on as usual for some number of rounds (perhaps a mini-season of 4 rounds), and then maybe restart a new season with a more modest starting deck. If people don't care about knowing the season's end, we can just see how it goes.

My submission: 519f586abd85709dcca5d95127056b5284c02e27c35c010c362bafceb8ae55d4

[Asthereal]

Excuse me, you can totally play and even cast Force of Will by playing it along with Saprazzan Cove, Field of Ruin, and Phyrexian Devourer!

On a less goofy note, we might consider what we want to do after this round. I had proposed this season to be 9 rounds, and the next one I was planning on was to do the same thing with a banlist or in Legacy instead of Vintage, but then this season started folding it in on itself and required some bans. Maybe we continue as is. Also FTW might also have a season in mind.

1) Play another 9 rounds the same way we've done these last few rounds with 7 cards banned.
2) Play a new ceiling season with a larger banlist.
2b) Make a new starting ceiling deck the same way we did this time, taking the median deck from whatever people feel like submitting.
3) FTW season (probably coming back to this afterward.)

I like option 2.

Also, I think having a fixed number of rounds that's known from the start is better, but we're doing this for fun so having the cleanest variant of the competition possible might be outweighed by having more fun.

[silkster]

Ceiling Season - Round 9

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash!
Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW?
Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!
FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero

[silkster]

Oops. I get a bunch of draws.

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash!
WL - If I get to play my land first, I always hold up mana and float BG if you cast Blood Moon.

Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
WW - Punishing Fire will always be able to catch the Feeder.

dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW?
WW - I take 16 damage along the way, but you're one goblin short. Very nice find of a terrible card. That's what I was hoping for this season.

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!
DD - Field of Ruin ruins my day, but if you cast Gideon first then I can kill him and Crypt kills you.

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
DD - If Smallpox hits my land, I lose, so I just don't play it. If you Smallpox and don't hit my land, I can kill The Rack and take over. I like how all these cards work together just right, and also appreciate that you couldn't play Dunes of the Dead because it's too good.

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
WW - I've been hoping to play Divine Gambit for a while, but the double cost is just so punishing.

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero
I really like that I take exactly 20 damage against Empty the Warrens. It turns out, though, that my late switch was bad. LED, LED, Lingering Souls, Insatiable Gorgers scores 11W and 1D (against Goblin Marshall) against this field.

[dte]

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash!
6-0. I have more goblins! Gobs smash!

Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
6-0, I am a bit faster. Gobs smash zombies!
12

dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW?
Me, doing mimicking and a true goblin smash deck. Also featuring one of my favourite gob, the marshal. Played it a lot as casual when urza was out.

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!
6-0. Gobs smash gideon!
18

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
0-6. How many is too many? Gobs smash! No, too few goblins :(
18

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
6-0. Divine Gambit looks pretty good here, but gobs smash!
24

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero
2-2. As I understand it, exactly 0 is how much damage you can do to your opponent? Also wouldn't we DD as well against your LED deck?
26

[FTW]

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!

This races 5 1/1 goblins but too slow for 6! (Smallpox kills 1, Spirit token kills another, 3 damage Rack vs 4 1/1s).

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth
OTP I play T1 Rack. If you play T1 Kuldotha and leave Blood Moon+City in hand, I Smallpox and put you down to 1 goblin + 1 card in hand, losing Rack's 2 damage. So you play T1 Blood Moon to stop Smallpox, then T2 Kuldotha and start attacking turn 3 vs Rack's 3 damage. Rack deals damage sooner and wins the race.
OTD you play T1 Blood Moon. I can't Smallpox but play T1 Rack, and you're again taking Rack damage before you can make 3 1/1s.
WW 6-0


Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder
OTP T2 Smallpox beats tapped land, and I'll have a 1/1 + 1 Rack damage.
OTD you can Cabal Therapy the Smallpox. I'll still have Rack, but Carrion Crawler should race that.
WL 3-3


dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus
If you play Flash-Marshall, Smallpox leaves you with too few resources: 3 1/1s vs 1/1 + Rack.
If you do nothing, Smallpox leaves you unable to make Goblins (discard Marshal or Flash). To block my 1/1 Spirit you play Mox + Blinkmoth, but then Rack races.
WW 6-0

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin
T1 Gideon gets under Smallpox. Rack+Crypt = 6 damage per turn, so you make an emblem. Rack damage can no longer be redirected to Planeswalkers, so I can only interact with Gideon with my 1/1 (via either Smallpox or your LD). Gideon needs 5 attacks to win. To survive my 1/1, you just need to +1 a few times first (targeting the spirit), then Gideon can survive to attack 5 times.
LL 0-6

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit
OTP T2 Smallpox beats tapped land. If you lead with Field of Ruin first, I still Smallpox (lose Field of Ruin). If you discard Priest, Gambit can't stop both Rack and the 1/1 spirit. If you discard Gambit, Priest is raced by Rack.
OTD you have T1 tapped farm T2 Field of Ruin, taking me off Smallpox. I play Gods Eye first so I'll get a 1/1 + Rack. This time you can both kill Rack and play Priest to race the 1/1.
WL 3-3

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy
I play T1 Gods Eye + Rack. If you Trophy Rack, I Smallpox your land and my 1/1 Spirit wins. If you Trophy my land, Punishing Fire kills the 1/1 but Rack wins. If you do nothing, I can't Smallpox first (you discard Punishing Fire and have Trophy for Rack).
DD 2-2

20 points (6 wins, 2 draws, 4 loss)

[FTW]

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
6-0. How many is too many? Gobs smash! No, too few goblins :(
18

Disagreement. See above. I built to beat 5 1/1 goblins & lose to 6 1/1s.

4 1/1s + manland loses a bit more than 5 1/1s vs Smallpox. Seems like straightforward WW for me.

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero
I really like that I take exactly 20 damage against Empty the Warrens. It turns out, though, that my late switch was bad. LED, LED, Lingering Souls, Insatiable Gorgers scores 11W and 1D (against Goblin Marshall) against this field.

I had Mishra's Workshop + Juggernaut. But I didn't think of the LED tech, so my version was losing to Smallpox. LED + Souls is a clever way to play around Smallpox & LD.

Can your deck win any games?
1R Punishing Fire opponent -> Opponent -2, +1
R return Punishing Fire -> Opponent +1
Net = 0 damage

I think this needs to be Mox Ruby so you can cast Punishing Fire without lifegain, but then you can't play Trophy.

[dte]

Disagreement. See above. I built to beat 5 1/1 goblins & lose to 6 1/1s.

4 1/1s + manland loses a bit more than 5 1/1s vs Smallpox. Seems like straightforward WW for me.

Sorry, I meant 0-6. I agree I am missing. Corrected now.

On the other hand, I think you got your MUs vs Reep and Asthereal wrong.

[Reeplcheep]

Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
I was too lazy to figure out something that barely stabilize, to my detriment.

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash!
Guessed wrong on enchantment vs destroy LD. LL

dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW?
Too fast. LL

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!
Guessed right on enchantment vs destroy LD. WW

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
Rack kills on my T9 (0+1+7x3) and I kill on t8 if I skip a turn to CT. WL

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
Gravecrawler races if you gambit my land. You could win the race if you gambit my creatures so I CT first and win. WW

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero
LL (edit: DD no wincon?)

5W 2D 5L for 17/36

[silkster]

Oops

Really should have played those gorgers.

Note: Since no deck can go 0-6 against me, this deck will be skipped when looking for the next ceiling deck.

Don't forget to put your scores in the sheet (link in signature).

[Wrath of Pie]

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash! - LL
Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers - LL
dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW? - LL
FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins! - WW
Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment: - WW
Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero - DD - This is a top-tier (unintentional) dadjoke.

4w2d = 14 points

Seems t1 Field of Ruin was respected more this round.

[GoblinSmashmaster]

GoblinSmashmaster Results for Round "Goblins smash!"

GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Mox Ruby, Blood Moon, Kuldotha Rebirth, comment: Goblin clash!
That's me, smashing with too few Goblins

Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
Goblins smash! 6-0

dte: Goblin Marshal, Mox sapphire, Flash, Blinkmoth Nexus, comment: Flashgob smash! A viable goblin deck for FTW?
Goblins smash! 0-6

Wrath of Pie: Gideon of the Trials, Great Hall of the Citadel, Mana Crypt, Field of Ruin, comment: No Lotus? No problem!
Goblins smash! 6-0

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!
Goblins mathed :| 0-6

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
Goblins smash! 6-0

Silkster: Grove of the Burnwillows, Mox Jet, Punishing Fire, Assassin's Trophy, comment: exactly to zero
Goblins smash, then Trophy 4-1

22 goblin points!

[silkster]

Reeplcheep: Cabal Therapy, Gravecrawler, Duskmoss Bridge, Carrion Feeder, comment: Math is for Blockers
I was too lazy to figure out something that barely stabilize, to my detriment.

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit, comment:
Gravecrawler races if you gambit my land. You could win the race if you gambit my creatures so I CT first and win. WW

I think Asthereal wins this on the play. Gambit catches the Bridge before it can cast anything.

[FTW]

I think Asthereal wins this on the play. Gambit catches the Bridge before it can cast anything.

Divine Gambit Show & Tells the opponent. T2 Gambit on Bridge -> Gravecrawler in play, 2/1 Gravecrawler races 2/1 Priest because Gravecrawler was played first.

[silkster]

Divine Gambit Show & Tells the opponent. T2 Gambit on Bridge -> Gravecrawler in play, 2/1 Gravecrawler races 2/1 Priest because Gravecrawler was played first.

Ha, I keep missing what cards do. Who put me in charge anyway?

FTW: Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Rack, Smallpox, comment: 1 too many goblins!

This races 5 1/1 goblins but too slow for 6! (Smallpox kills 1, Spirit token kills another, 3 damage Rack vs 4 1/1s).

Asthereal: Remote Farm, Field of Ruin, Soltari Priest, Divine Gambit
OTP T2 Smallpox beats tapped land. If you lead with Field of Ruin first, I still Smallpox (lose Field of Ruin). If you discard Priest, Gambit can't stop both Rack and the 1/1 spirit. If you discard Gambit, Priest is raced by Rack.
OTD you have T1 tapped farm T2 Field of Ruin, taking me off Smallpox. I play Gods Eye first so I'll get a 1/1 + Rack. This time you can both kill Rack and play Priest to race the 1/1.
WL 3-3

Wait, Remote Farm can't activate Field and cast both spells.

[dte]

Wait, Remote Farm can't activate Field and cast both spells.

Yes, this MU should be DD.
I think the Reeplcheep vs FTW is also not that clear, that 3 a turn beats slightly delayed 3 and growing.