First off for reference here is the deck list.Originally Posted by Holly
Creatures:3
3 Deathrite Shaman
Spells:33
4 Brainstorm
3 Innocent Blood
2 Spell Pierce
4 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Life from the Loam
4 Standstill
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Force of Will
Lands:24
2 Bayou
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Mishra's Factory
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
Sideboard:13
1 Darkblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spell Pierce
1 Krosan Grip
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Perish
1 Damnation
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Force of Will
I realize that the side board does need some work. there are some slots that I want to adjust for certain match ups.
Round 1 Oops all spells.
This was my first time playing against the deck. I kept a reasonable hand with a DRS and a Thoughtseize. He won the die roll and got a Undercity Informer in play on turn one. My out was to top deck an Innocent Blood and didn't get there. So I scooped with out even playing a land as to not give him an information about what I was playing hoping that maybe he would sideboard incorrectly.
In:
Force of Will, Spell Pierce, Nihil Spell Bomb, Grafdigger's CAge
Out:
Pernicious Deed x 3, Liliana
On the play I keep a hand with FoW and DRS. He must've kept a weak hand because he said, "We'll try it." I play land and DRS and pass. He draws and moves to discard. I drew a Standstill for the turn. Played a land and standstill and passed. he disacarded again. I drew runner runner man lands and brought the beats with them for a while. At one point he attempted to go off and broke the standstill which let me draw into more counter and win fairly easily.
Game 3 he had the stone nuts and killed me before I played land.
0-1
Round 2 Oops all spells...again
He won the die and opted to draw which lead me to believe that he was on manaless dredge. I mulliganned to a pretty sweet had that had a couple of lands, a DRS and a Thoughtseize which I thought would be good for a dredge deck. I thoughtseized him turn one and saw Spy, Spy, chromemox, spirit guide, cabal therapy, dark rit, cabal rit. I thought to myself, "oh great this again." Since the mox was his only true source of mana I took it and passed. He drew, tanked for a second and passed. I drew a thoughtseize. I played a land and thoughseized him again, he drew a lotus petal. I wanted to ask him why he didn't play the petal but since it was his only true source of mana I took it, played DRS and passed. he drew and passed. I drew played a land and passed. he drew again and moved to discard. He discarded Lab Maniac. I shocked him for 2 at end step. We played a bit of draw go as I was lacking the green mana to exile the lab maniac. I finally drew it and during his and step exiled the lab maniac and he scooped.
Game 2 he opted to play and had the nuts and went off turn 1.
Game 3 I kept a hand with Fow, standstill, DRS and Innocent Blood. I forget how this game went but there was some draw go, he probed me and the game ended when I was beating down for 2 a turn with a Factory and my hand consisted of Force, Force, Standstill, Standstill, Innocent Blood, Innocent Blood.
1-1
Round 3 UW Landstill
He won the die roll (it really wasn't my night for that apparently). I kept a reasonable hand in the dark of a couple lands, thoughtseize, DRS, Liliana, Abrupt Decay and Innocent Blood. He played Flooded Strand and passed turn. I drew, tanked for a minute and played verdant catacombs and passed. I didn't want to crack right away for fear of stifle. At EOT he cracked so I did to in response and got a basic swamp to play around waste land. He got an island and brainstormed. Ok so probably not Delver. He draws, plays basic plains and passed the turn. I draw, play a land to play around Daze and thoughtseize. He Enlighten Tutors in response and gets Standstill. I'm laughing on the inside because now I know this is basically the mirror. he reveals 4 land and an irrelevant card so I make him discard it and pass. he drops a land and passes. I draw play factory and pass. He plays factory and passes. I waste his factory and get in for 2. he plays fairy conclave and passes. I waste his conclave and get in for 2 again. He's getting a little frustrated at this point. He drops another factory and passes. I get in for 2. He gets in for 2. We race back and forth a bit until he finally leaves his factory back to block. By this time I've drawn a Standstill of my own. So I attack and he animates and blocks his factory and pumps it to kill mine. I say ok, main 2 Innocent Blood. He draws three off of standstill, then he Brainstorms, didn't find the counter and IB resolves. I say ok, LftL get back Waste, Waste, Factory. Play my land and tap 2, he says, "Goyf?" I say, "No Standstill." He says, "Are you serious?!" I slam standstill and pass. Then it's a bit more of draw go I waste some of his lands then continue with the factory beats. Then Tar pit joins the party. He breaks the standstill by playing Elspeth and I force it. Man land beats and I get there.
In
Fow, Maelstrom Pulse, Garruk, Pithing Needle
Out
Abrupt Decay x 2, Deed x 2
Game 2 he was on the play and it was pretty much the same as game 1. Some land go. I've got 2 wastelands in my hand and am looking to waste him out but then he plays needle naming wasteland. Ok there goes that idea. I end up resolving a Liliana and then the next turn resolve a Jace. Then I play Garruk and make a wolf. After that it was pretty much over for him. He landed an Elspeth, made a guy then jumped it and attacked my Garruk so down he goes. but then the wolf, the tar pit and the factory all get in and take down Elspeth. I have a dark blast in hand and am a turn away from ultimating Jace. he swings the token into Jace and I darkblast it just because I can. after that he scoops.
2-1
Round 4 Reanimator
I was sitting next this guy the previous round so I knew what I was in for. I lost the die roll again and then mulliganed aggressively into something relevant. I knew that I was going to need disruption. he thoughtseized me turn one and took my Innocent Blood and I ripped a DRS off the top and slammed it. He laughed and said, "It was bound to happen." there was a little back an fourth with some digging, DRS was going to work on the spells in his yard to shock him for 2 a turn but I wasn't finding green mana. After we both ran out of instants and sorceries in the yard I started swinging in with factory and took game 1.
In
Nihil Spell Bomb, Gradiggers Cage, Pithing Needle, FoW, Spell Pierce
Out
Deed x 3, Abrupt Decay, Liliana
Game 2 he was on the play, I kept a pretty lousy hand but it had an Innocent Blood in it. He turn 1 thoughtseized me again and the Innocent Blood. he played a land and passed. I played DRS on turn three and he end of turn entombed Tidespout Tyrant and then Exhumed it on his turn. after that it was pretty much game over for me as I couldn't keep a permanent in play and I scooped it up.
Game three I kept the same configuration and drew my opening 7. I tanked for a while on keeping it. It was Liliana x2, DRS, Innocent Blood, Brainstorm, Underground, Spell Pierce. it was a risky keep but I kept it on the merit of brainstorm alone. I figured if I got thoughtseized again turn 1 I could hide the relevant cards and hopefully dig into some land. He played a land and passed so I brainstormed EOT and found land, land, innocent blood. I played my land, cast DRS which resolved and passed. I was feeling like I was in a pretty comfortable spot. Turn four it got a little crazy. He was lacking a black source I could tell because he entombed Grislebrand off of a lotus petal but then he ripped one off the top and exhumed grislebrand. I let it resolve. I go to untap, my board is 4 lands and a DRS. My hand is Innocent Blood, Innocent Blood, Spell Pierce, Brainstorm. I cast the first IB, he draws 7 and casts FoW. I say ok, Innocent Blood. "You are an evil, evil man." He tanks, then draws 7 more. He's now at 3 life and casts Daze. So I start tanking really hard trying to figure out how I can get him to cast the other FoW in his hand so that I can activate DRS for the win. the line I took was pay for the daze then he said he no more responses so I activated DRS to shock him for 2 before the sac putting him at one. He draws, discards to 7 and passes. I draw a Jace. I play a land and cast Jace and Brainstrom right away into another brainstorm and pass. Now I realized this after the fact but this is where I made my mistake that essentially cost me the game. He untaps and play Needle naming Jace. My hand is Spell Pierce and Brainstorm. I let needs resolve and go for the EOT brainstorm which he Dazes. What I should've done was untap and done it mainphase. oh well. I draw dead a few turns he tries to Show and Tell in a fatty but I pierce it and we end up going to a draw.
end of the night was 2-1-1 which was good enough for 6th place and a Threads of Disloyalty.
Sorry if this was wordy and didn't make much sense. I don't take notes during matches and I was relaying all of this through memory. Over all I was very happy with the deck and thought the Standstills worked well. You will actually be surprised how many people just don't want to play anything into a Standstill.
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