[Deck] Deadguy Ale (B/w Confidant)

[rsaunder]

Teh brief tournament report!

I split first and second today at our local shop, playing the above deadguy list, with a few minor SB changes (-3 needle, +4 warmth).

Round 1: My buddy playing my rifter deck. Now, he's not the best player, but he's decent. Problem was its SB that was set up expecting pox kinda beats me too. I won game one with the draw power of confident and cursed scroll for a little extra damage, like I really expected to. Game 2 was not so easy. He sided in 8 cards (3 sacred ground, 2 spiritual focus, and 3 true believer), I sided in my serenities and negator, taking out smallpoxes. He drops a second turn focus, after I drop a first turn hippy, effectively neutering the poor spectre. I dropped a shade, and brought him down quite quickly untill he began using a pulse of the fields. I burned myself down as I beat him slowly with shade. He played a lightning rift, and the next turn I dropped a serenity. He took me down to 4, and I won that turn with a beefy shade and that first turn hippy.

Round 2: Janky affinity. I managed to keep him off of land very well game 1, although he managed to get an atog with a cranial plating online. I had enough guys to slowly "smokestack" away his permanents by throwing my guys in the atog's way, and eventually smallpoxed away his entire hand and board. I won with a hippy and a grunt. Game 2 I swapped out 2 duress for 2 serenity, and saw one in my opening grip. I was down to 10 by the time my serenity wiped his board of a chrome mox, a land, a ravaer (4/4) and a frogmite. I got a scroll online and won slowly with it and a hippy, although I had access to a tomb, I dodn't feel the risk necissary.

Round 3: BR aggro/control. Pretty good player. Game 1, I rip apart his hand and smallpox takes out his occasion l sedge troll or hippy. I finished it with grunt and a shade, it was just ugly. No SB. Game 2 I have to mull to five, and stabilize at 1 with a hippy and a scroll. He topdecks burn and wins. Game 3 I get a good start, duressing out a jitte, keep him off of black mana for the rest of the game and win at 16 life with, once again, a grunt and a shade.

Round 4: Semifinals: Solidarity: One of the best players there. The round begins with a little cursing on his part, being paired up with me instead of the secret force deck that made it. Game 1, he gats an excellent stalling hand with 3 remands and 2 FOW, and manages to comb off about turn 6 with 3 lands. I side out scrolls and side in a negator and a grunt. I lead off with a duress, taking his high tide, and keep him on 1 land for the rest of the game. Game 3, he lays a land, I lay a land, rit, duress, hymn. He reveals a second turn kill hand, and swears as I pull his meditate and hymn away a land and a reset. I sinkhole a land second turn, drop a hippy third turn, and hymn him agains fourth turn.

Finals: I had to leave, and at the other match that was going on, the guys agreed to split (nice guys). I pulled a demonfire in one of my packs $2 entry fee was totally worth it.

MVP of the day (other than the staples) : Grunt. He was amazing, and after he resolved, a game never lasted long enough for him to die. Serenity was no slacker either, nabbing me 2 games by it'self.

Least useful: Most of my SB. What can ya do

So, TheBirdMan, who ended up winning that match?

[Eldariel]

So wait, what do you have in the MD again? The last post only has your sideboard, and while I can deduct a pretty close list from that report, I'm still not sure I've got all the details. Nice report though.

[rsaunder]

Sorry about the lack of a list, I thought I had posted it

In any case:

4 hymn
4 duress
4 sinkhole
4 vindicate
3 smallpox

4 hippy
4 Bob
3 shade
2 grunt

2 cursed scroll

4 dark rit

1 tomb of uruami
1 poluted delta
4 scrubland
4 bloodstained mire
4 wasteland
8 swamp

SB:
4 e. plague
3 dystopia
2 serenity
1 negator
1 grunt
4 warmth

[Whit3 Ghost]

To clear that up

4 hymn to tourach
4 sinkhole
4 duress
4 vindicate
3 smallpox

4 hypnotic spectre
4 dark confident
3 nantuko shade
2 jotun grunt

2 cursed scroll

4 dark ritual

4 bloodstained mire
1 polluted delta
4 scrubland
1 tomb of uruami
4 wasteland
8 swamp

[al the great]

Ok everyone keeps calling Dark Confidant "Bob". Is that the guy's name on the pic???

[Eldariel]

Ok everyone keeps calling Dark Confidant "Bob". Is that the guy's name on the pic???

Wizards of the Coast has a tradition of holding Magic-invitationals. Invitationals-winners get to design their own cards, which fans often tend to call after the winner himself. Dark Confidant is the card sub of invitationals winner Bob Maher, just like Meddling Mage is Chris Pikula's, Shadowmage Infiltrator is Jon Finkel's, etc.

[al the great]

Wizards of the Coast has a tradition of holding Magic-invitationals. Invitationals-winners get to design their own cards, which fans often tend to call after the winner himself. Dark Confidant is the card sub of invitationals winner Bob Maher, just like Meddling Mage is Chris Pikula's, Shadowmage Infiltrator is Jon Finkel's, etc.

Thanks that's what I thought. Didn't know about those other two cards. Cool.

[Anarky87]

Rsaunder, I like your list and I've been testing it out. For the SB, I've included 2 StP for the moment and 2 Negators. I want to test these out and see how well the perform. Did you try StP at all anywhere between MD and SB or did you figure it was too counterproductive to your strategy. My board is:

4 Plague
3 Needle
3 Dystopia
2 Negator
2 StP
1 Grunt

[rsaunder]

First and foremost: Thanks for the clarification, Whit3_Ghost.

Rsaunder, I like your list and I've been testing it out. For the SB, I've included 2 StP for the moment and 2 Negators. I want to test these out and see how well the perform. Did you try StP at all anywhere between MD and SB or did you figure it was too counterproductive to your strategy. My board is:

4 Plague
3 Needle
3 Dystopia
2 Negator
2 StP
1 Grunt

A while ago I played STP MB, but I really hated drawing dead in combo and control matchups and it didn't take out my main problem at the time: Mongose. I swapped it out for funeral charm (1 4-of at one point), which was excellent against goblins, but was just generally underpowered. Then I gave up on the deck for a while, then they printed smallpox.

STP was an excellent tool, but I felt that the 4 life they gained off of a threshed werebear or whatever made it a decent bit harder to win. I've been thinking of SBing copies, but my question is, for what? and what do I side out? I'd cut a needle and use my free slot for 2 copies, but I'm not sure what they'd go in against. Angel stompy and other things that rely on big creatures, but seriously, I just found it too narrow. Yeah, I just said STP was too narrow, I'm crazy, whatever.

Also, what do you side in and out for the combo matchup? I've been pretty convinced that the second negator is unnecissary, but I could see perhaps sideing out a land or something for another beater. Do you find you miss the "disenchant" effect at all? Serenity has just randomly won me so many games (of course, not against the trinity, just randomness), I'd just feel, well, naked without it.

[Anarky87]

A while ago I played STP MB, but I really hated drawing dead in combo and control matchups and it didn't take out my main problem at the time: Mongose.

I also used to play them MD as a 2 when I dabbled with the deck. I found that they were alright in most cases, I just remembered alot of people dismissing them because they said the lifegain it gave to the opponent was too much. But I felt it was worth it being able to deal with resolved threats. Since I've been trying your build out, I've moved them to the SB because in my meta, I'm pretty sure I'll still find them useful.

STP was an excellent tool, but I felt that the 4 life they gained off of a threshed werebear or whatever made it a decent bit harder to win. I've been thinking of SBing copies, but my question is, for what? and what do I side out? I'd cut a needle and use my free slot for 2 copies, but I'm not sure what they'd go in against. Angel stompy and other things that rely on big creatures, but seriously, I just found it too narrow. Yeah, I just said STP was too narrow, I'm crazy, whatever.

I've been siding out my Cursed Scrolls as they can really only hit Mage if the opponent MD's them. Or be pointed at their head. It can't hit Mongoose, and I've played very few people that lay down unthreshed Bears, so it's basically a shock against them for 3 when I want to be playing more beaters/disruption/pumping Shade. My older SB was kinda crazy and I had 3 StP there, so my SB'ing kinda went -2 Scroll, -1 Vindicate, -1 Sinkhole for +3 StP, +1 Grunt. Now with 2 StP, I'd probably go -2 Scroll, -1 Sinkhole for +2 StP, +1 Grunt I think. But I can see your point about its narrowness. Against Goblins, I'm not sure 2 copies are all that great, but with Plague+Scroll, it could help. And of course completely dead against combo, which is what eventually made me move them to the board.

Also, what do you side in and out for the combo matchup? I've been pretty convinced that the second negator is unnecissary, but I could see perhaps sideing out a land or something for another beater.

I've been going -2 Scroll, +2 Negator against Solidarity and I'm thinking -2 Scroll, -1 Something else (Perhaps land like you suggested) for +2 Negator, +1 Grunt for IGG. The extra Negator may not be needed after all, I just thought I'd give it a spin as another 5/5 couldn't hurt (But it might slow me down too).

Do you find you miss the "disenchant" effect at all? Serenity has just randomly won me so many games (of course, not against the trinity, just randomness), I'd just feel, well, naked without it.

I haven't played any matchups yet requiring Serenity, but it used to be in my SB and it was a house, so it may find its way back into it. Most likely in place of the StP if those don't work out. I should point out that that SB is pretty metagamed for me as where I play there is very little use of enchantments or artifacts. When Affinity was big in my area, I had Serenity as a 2-of in the board and it was amazing. I would definitely make room for it if I was to take the deck to a broader field. You are right about its godliness against randomness.

[rsaunder]

So, you don't side in Dystopias against threshold? In all honesty, that's the primary reason I had been playing it. I sided out scrolls, a sinkhole, and something else (usually a confident or a vindicate or something) for 3 dystopia and 1 grunt. Dystopia just seems > STP there.

I've been going -2 Scroll, +2 Negator against Solidarity and I'm thinking -2 Scroll, -1 Something else (Perhaps land like you suggested) for +2 Negator, +1 Grunt for IGG. The extra Negator may not be needed after all, I just thought I'd give it a spin as another 5/5 couldn't hurt (But it might slow me down too).

I think I'd rather have grunt than negator against solidarity. He comes out second turn if need be (the only reason I don't like him is 'cuz he can't come in off a rit), and makes the solidarity player acually make you draw or bounce him, which against a deck that spreads thier resources thin as it could mean the game. Negator is a friggin house, but grunt is also a very excellent anti-combo beater.

[Anarky87]

So, you don't side in Dystopias against threshold?

This has only been recently as I was waiting for Dystopia to come in the mail. The SB I posted was one that I was trying to finalize. Sorry for the mix up. I was just testing in the mean time while I was waiting for my Dystopia's and, to another extent, the usefulness of StP against Thresh.

I think I'd rather have grunt than negator against solidarity. He comes out second turn if need be (the only reason I don't like him is 'cuz he can't come in off a rit), and makes the solidarity player acually make you draw or bounce him, which against a deck that spreads thier resources thin as it could mean the game. Negator is a friggin house, but grunt is also a very excellent anti-combo beater.

Good point, I'll give both a try and see what I come to.

[DeathwingZERO]

I also believe that Grunt is better than Negator vs Solidarity. Here's a few of the reasons I came to that conclusion while testing:

1- He is almost always a 4 turn clock, due to Solidarity cracking on average 2 fetchlands per game (there's 6 fetch for 12 Islands, it can sometimes be higher), and needing to use FoW against big problems. In addition to Shade, make it more like a 3 turn clock. Pretty speedy.

2- He cripples the best dig spell they have: Flash of Insight. When he starts getting multiple counters, you've been tossing so many of the cards back into their deck, they will have to use Brain Freeze on themselves in a pinch if their in a corner.

3- He throws lands back into their deck, making their draw spells even more unstable. You start to hit them where it hurts here. Brainstorm, Impulse, and Meditate all get worse when the land ratio is never getting any thinner. Drawing 3 lands from a Meditate sucks.

All in all, I've never favored Negator in combo matchups, as both Iggy and Solidarity hit themselves with fetches, so the +1 power typically isn't as good. Though possibly coming out on turn 1 vs turn 2, which is typical for Grunt, does tend to get it some recognition. For me, I'd just rather burn my Rit's on discard and LD power plays.

[Goblin Snowman]

Also, Grunt has good synergy with Brainfreeze I hear. They have to make you draw, or else Grunt puts the cards back in your deck. That can be diffucult if you are making them go off around disruption. ALso, they might forget about it if they are stupid, or unfamilar with Grunt.

[Anarky87]

I did win a local tournament again this past Wed. with the deck using Rsaunder's list. My Dystopia's hadn't come by then, nor did my needle, so I settled for Perish and StP respectively.

First round I played against U/G Madness and he talked forever about how my discard was gonna help him so much...until I blew just about everything he had up and left him with one land. Game 2 was like the first, but he did get to play a Mongrel, Arrogant Wurm, and something else.

Round 2 was against this B/W Control deck that I thought was also Deadguy, but turned out it just used some of the same components. Game 1 was close, with us at very few permanents the whole game until I topdecked my way back into it and won with Grunt and Shade. Game 2 I lost due to drawing a total of 3 lands the entire time. Game 3 I just flat out won when he had the same problem I did in Game 2.

Got a bye Round 3.

Round 4 I had to play Goblins, since the Goblins guy and B/W Jank guy were friends, the B/W dude scooped to the Goblins (I don't know why, he had beat him before in round 1). He beats me game 1 as there's nothing I can really do. Games 2-3 involved E. Plageues and a bunch of my creatures just picnicing on his face. I offered him a split before the match to which he replied, "Why the hell would I split with you?"...Should have taken the split ;)

After that round I was the only undefeated so I got first and some store credit. The list seemed pretty strong, there was nothing about it I didn't like (Except maybe not getting my Dystopia's and Needle in time...)

[rsaunder]

I did win a local tournament again this past Wed. with the deck using Rsaunder's list. My Dystopia's hadn't come by then, nor did my needle, so I settled for Perish and StP respectively.

First round I played against U/G Madness and he talked forever about how my discard was gonna help him so much...until I blew just about everything he had up and left him with one land. Game 2 was like the first, but he did get to play a Mongrel, Arrogant Wurm, and something else.

Round 2 was against this B/W Control deck that I thought was also Deadguy, but turned out it just used some of the same components. Game 1 was close, with us at very few permanents the whole game until I topdecked my way back into it and won with Grunt and Shade. Game 2 I lost due to drawing a total of 3 lands the entire time. Game 3 I just flat out won when he had the same problem I did in Game 2.

Got a bye Round 3.

Round 4 I had to play Goblins, since the Goblins guy and B/W Jank guy were friends, the B/W dude scooped to the Goblins (I don't know why, he had beat him before in round 1). He beats me game 1 as there's nothing I can really do. Games 2-3 involved E. Plageues and a bunch of my creatures just picnicing on his face. I offered him a split before the match to which he replied, "Why the hell would I split with you?"...Should have taken the split ;)

After that round I was the only undefeated so I got first and some store credit. The list seemed pretty strong, there was nothing about it I didn't like (Except maybe not getting my Dystopia's and Needle in time...)

Congrats! About the goblin matchup: On the draw game one your chances suck, and generally involve ritting something out, like a kill spell or a hippy to get rid of that first turn lackey. On the play, though, you're in some better (although not amazing shape) with small pox and other answers ot that ever present lackey. I'd call the percentages 55/45 (I'm being nice. 50/50) for you on the play and 75/25 for you on the draw. Knowing you're playing goblins is big, though, as you can mull more agressively to get the answers you wanted. Keepable hands may not seem like they would have been keepable if your opponent says "lackey, go". I'm glad the plagues did thier business for you, though. Did you have to get out 2 plagues both games, or were you able to hold it down with 1?

[Anarky87]

Congrats! About the goblin matchup: On the draw game one your chances suck, and generally involve ritting something out, like a kill spell or a hippy to get rid of that first turn lackey. On the play, though, you're in some better (although not amazing shape) with small pox and other answers ot that ever present lackey. I'd call the percentages 55/45 (I'm being nice. 50/50) for you on the play and 75/25 for you on the draw. Knowing you're playing goblins is big, though, as you can mull more agressively to get the answers you wanted. Keepable hands may not seem like they would have been keepable if your opponent says "lackey, go".

Yeah, I think I won the die roll for game 1 against Goblins, and did use the Smallpox trick to get rid of his Lackey. But I really didn't draw anything else worthwhile from there, so he just got back in the game. I think at one point right after I Smallpoxed he threw down double Lackey and Piledriver while I only had a Specter. That led to some Siege-Gang Banging of me in the ensuing turns.

I'm glad the plagues did thier business for you, though. Did you have to get out 2 plagues both games, or were you able to hold it down with 1?

Plagues were the nuts against them, but I only ever had one in play in both games 2 and 3. For the most part, it shut off their annoying stuff like Lackey's, Matrons, Fanatics, SGC tokens, etc. which gives you some breathing room. I don't think it was a perfect Goblins deck, but he ran Goons to, I guess, offset Plague, but I rememdied that by just playing out every creature I drew and swinging in. But it did run all of the other Goblins, guess he was trying to metagame...But overall I was really pleased with the deck.
I think there's gonna be an even bigger tournament this Sunday that I'm gonna play the deck in, so I'll give some more feedback if that tournament pans out.

Edit: Oh, and the only thing that differs in my list from yours is -1 Tomb, +1 Volrath's Stronghold. I thought I had some Tombs, but I guess not, so I've just been playing Stronghold in its place.

[DeathwingZERO]

I still believe that the Tomb is going to be too overcosted compared to Stronghold. Getting a 5/5 flyer is pretty nice and all, but getting recursion with Grunt's that are too big to deal with, Shades that get chumped, Hyppies that get bolted, and Bob's that just get hit with damn near every piece of hate, I really like the idea of turning those 14 creatures I have into more like 28. On top of that, it's pretty much a guaranteed activation every turn you can't get a spell, because you'll have plenty of dead creatures to fish out if you don't have disruption. Also, being able to get multiple Grunts on the table against stuff like Goblins and Thresh is pretty good, I heard, especially when they can swing every other turn, if absolutely desperate. A 4/4 on the swing with a 4/4 blocking......sounds savage to me.

[Eldariel]

I still believe that the Tomb is going to be too overcosted compared to Stronghold. Getting a 5/5 flyer is pretty nice and all, but getting recursion with Grunt's that are too big to deal with, Shades that get chumped, Hyppies that get bolted, and Bob's that just get hit with damn near every piece of hate, I really like the idea of turning those 14 creatures I have into more like 28. On top of that, it's pretty much a guaranteed activation every turn you can't get a spell, because you'll have plenty of dead creatures to fish out if you don't have disruption. Also, being able to get multiple Grunts on the table against stuff like Goblins and Thresh is pretty good, I heard, especially when they can swing every other turn, if absolutely desperate. A 4/4 on the swing with a 4/4 blocking......sounds savage to me.

Umm, WTF? Those 2 cards aren't played in the same slot! Tomb of Urami produces black mana=Swamp with an additional threat-ability=coloured landslot! Volrath's Stronghold=colourless land with an ability=wasteland-slot! They aren't either/or, those 2 lands have nothing to do with each other!

[rsaunder]

I still believe that the Tomb is going to be too overcosted compared to Stronghold. Getting a 5/5 flyer is pretty nice and all, but getting recursion with Grunt's that are too big to deal with, Shades that get chumped, Hyppies that get bolted, and Bob's that just get hit with damn near every piece of hate, I really like the idea of turning those 14 creatures I have into more like 28. On top of that, it's pretty much a guaranteed activation every turn you can't get a spell, because you'll have plenty of dead creatures to fish out if you don't have disruption. Also, being able to get multiple Grunts on the table against stuff like Goblins and Thresh is pretty good, I heard, especially when they can swing every other turn, if absolutely desperate. A 4/4 on the swing with a 4/4 blocking......sounds savage to me.

Eladriel said it pretty well. If stronghold tapped for black, I'd be all over it, but it doesn't. That's my main gripe about it, but Jotun Grunt is also a little sub-par with it. Just the dyssenyrgy of those two and the not tapping for black bit make me feel that tomb is the correct choice.