[Deck] The Rock

[Stuuch]

Hello guys.

Played my list today in a 21 man event. Drew my first three rounds and then lost the fourth in extra turns . Played against 2x Rug Delver, Shardless and Rug Cascade with Punishing Fire. The list felt good but it lacked a way to finish the games. Maybe this deck needs the big beaters after all.

[syfilisx]

Hello guys.

Played my list today in a 21 man event. Drew my first three rounds and then lost the fourth in extra turns . Played against 2x Rug Delver, Shardless and Rug Cascade with Punishing Fire. The list felt good but it lacked a way to finish the games. Maybe this deck needs the big beaters after all.

You sure it had nothing to do with your or your opponents play speed? Most of your opponents were going to time every round too.
This is not meant as offensive against you, but I feel like everyone of us sometimes should reflect his/her playspeed, especially if you are going time constantly.

I don't know what you mean with big beaters, if that's your list in page before this, It seems pretty identical to what my mate was playing in same tournament today, and I think that he does not feel deck is lacking closing power.

[Stuuch]

Hi.

I dont think we played that slow. Maybe I should have conceded a little earlier in some games in order to save time in the rounds. No offence taken BTW. :) I just can´t decide if it´s better to play with Goyfs and more green beaters like Smiter and Ooze or with the SFM souls list. Never had time issues when I played a more traditional build of the Rock. Hope I can make it to the next event too. Maybe I play something else then.

[sdematt]

Hi.

I dont think we played that slow. Maybe I should have conceded a little earlier in some games in order to save time in the rounds. No offence taken BTW. :) I just can´t decide if it´s better to play with Goyfs and more green beaters like Smiter and Ooze or with the SFM souls list. Never had time issues when I played a more traditional build of the Rock. Hope I can make it to the next event too. Maybe I play something else then.

Smiter list placed first in a 43-man:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=11884

Creatures [17]
2 Loxodon Smiter
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf

Instants [7]
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Abrupt Decay

Sorceries [6]
2 Hymn to Tourach
4 Thoughtseize

Enchantments [1]
1 Sylvan Library

Planeswalkers [3]
3 Liliana of the Veil

Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands [23]
1 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Savannah
2 Scrubland
2 Swamp
3 Bayou
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland

1 Oblivion Ring
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Duress
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Vindicate
1 Life from the Loam
1 Choke
1 Krosan Grip
2 Engineered Plague
2 Pithing Needle
2 Extirpate

2 Rock in the Top 8 of a 17-man:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=11925

4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tarmogoyf

Instants [8]
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries [8]
1 Life from the Loam
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek

Planeswalkers [4]
1 Garruk Relentless
3 Liliana of the Veil

Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte


Lands [21]
1 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Windswept Heath
2 Savannah
2 Scrubland
2 Wasteland
3 Bayou
3 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs

1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Aether Vial
3 Engineered Plague
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt

And the other:

Creatures [18]
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Voice of Resurgence
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary

Instants [7]
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorceries [9]
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize

Planeswalkers [1]
1 Liliana of the Veil



Artifacts [2]
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands [23]
1 Dark Depths
1 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Swamp
1 Thespian's Stage
2 Bayou
2 Marsh Flats
2 Savannah
2 Windswept Heath
3 Scrubland
3 Wasteland
4 Verdant Catacombs

3 Surgical Extraction
1 Choke
2 Golgari Charm
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Duress
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Engineered Explosives


Just so guys have some new ideas :)

-Matt

[AggroSteve]

i am just wondering,... it seems everyone has moved away from GSZ in favor of more card advantage like SFM, is GSZ not worth it anymore for most of you?

[paladin3056]

New toy from Commander 2013

Unexpectedly Absent XWW
Instant
Put target nonland permanent X cards from the top.

Note: X can be zero so it can be put on top of yhe deck, the only problem here is the double white in its cost. another interesting thing to note is that you can play it in response to cascade so that said card can be placed in the bottom.

[thecrav]

i am just wondering,... it seems everyone has moved away from GSZ in favor of more card advantage like SFM, is GSZ not worth it anymore for most of you?

I think it's more like you have the option of running GSZ or SFM + eqipment. I think most people would rather have SFM.

Personally, I think SFM is easier, but GSZ is better.

[crow_mw]

I love GSZ for the fact that it fills so many roles. It works as t1 acceleration, silver bullet or big beater otherwise. However, as I have claimed above, the last part is in a bit of a crisis right now. What do you tutor for against active Shamans or GYs have been cleaned by RiP? Loxodon Smiter? That seems very counterproductive...

[sdematt]

I love GSZ for the fact that it fills so many roles. It works as t1 acceleration, silver bullet or big beater otherwise. However, as I have claimed above, the last part is in a bit of a crisis right now. What do you tutor for against active Shamans or GYs have been cleaned by RiP? Loxodon Smiter? That seems very counterproductive...

Active Shamans --> Scavenging Ooze

RIP in play? ---> Loxodon Smiter

I ripped up yesterday going 3-1 (losing narrowly to Sneak and Show) and winning against Maverick, UWr Delver, and another Sneak and Show deck.

Smiter was great in the fair matchups, and absolutely stone-cold crushes the UWr Delver matchup. 4/4 is just too big for them.


Also did about 4 hours of BUG playtesting. Some are going to disagree, but after trying some Chokes and Chains of Mephistopheles, sometimes just jamming Deeds and Lingering Souls does in fact get there. As well, I've upped my Ooze count to 2 in the main and that turned the tides around. Baleful Strix is really your only speed bump, since they sit behind Goyf and Strix and then muck you with Jace. Smiter has been good against the unsuspecting opponent, or just as a 4/4 on turn 2. My opponents HAVE to board out Hymn and Liliana in this matchup then, giving them a bit less of an edge.

If we were in a BWg build, which a few of my friends have suggested, running Mirran Crusader would be ridiculous in the current metagame. Essentially, the shift would be away from GSZ and Goyf and a move towards Stoneforge/Souls/Liliana with a splash green for Decay and hatebears (and Sylvans :P). It's less susceptible to Rest in Peace, and could be a more novel choice.

I like my build as is, but BWg may be an avenue to look into. BUG can't beat Mirran Crusader; they flat out lose to that card if they cannot counter it.

Example:

4 Mirran Crusader
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Stoneforge Mystic
15

4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Lingering Souls
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of War and Peace (BUG has many cards in hand)
16
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Abrupt Decay

22 Land manabase

---

3 Thalia
2 Gaddock Teeg
etc.

-Matt

[crow_mw]

I still think that paying 4 mana to GSZ vanilla 4/4 body sounds suboptimal, even in correct board state. Let's put that aside however, as here comes Commander 2013.

A couple of pages back a significant remark was made, that Rock colors give best removal suite. In the new set we get two new ones - Unexpectedly Absent and Toxic Deluge. The former works best when backed up by countermagic, but still early game you can count on casting it in response to fetch, and late game you can burrow those pesky planewalkers deep enough. It also can serve as utility breaking setup cascades, delver flips or maybe even miracles. I am not sure we need it on top of our other removal, but an interesting card nevertheless. Also in our colors, regardless of it's instant speed, it might be just inferior to Vindicate.

Toxic Deluge on the other hand sounds like a replacement to Deeds. In my meta at least, Deed is almost always used to blow critters up, and Toxic Deluge is just turn faster (except for when you want to blow tokens). Unlike Deed it is also a viable answer to resolved Emrakul. Even more important it hits the new mini-progenitus...

... who I think will be very problematic to us. If our strong side is removal than it really sucks to encounter a card that invalidates all of that. Too bad he isn't green/white as he would fit in our lists very well. And I am not sure we will be able to race him. For one I think he will make it even more necessary to run SFM package, as Batterskull is one thing that should be able to race him decently and maybe even SoFaI will be used to swing past him.

Even more pages ago a suggestion to use Glissa, the Traitor MD was brought up. She didn't turn out to be super impressive, with a conclusion that she would require a big package of cards. However I think she could work with Engineered Explosives alone. If we are forced to run MD answers to new merflok bro, maybe we could run this soft lock against any creature deck as well.

One more tech we could maybe reevaluate if he becomes too persistent is going back to Doran, the Siege Tower.

As a side note - both new removal spells are non-green so if moving away from G will become a thing, that surely helps.

[lavafrogg]

To add to the smiter discussion: I just watched a Jund player cascade into a hymn and hit 2 Smiters. He had to read the card and scooped when he realized what he did. Im sure it will never happen again but he was forced to sideboard out Lilliana against a Junk deck which is awesome.

[Skizz]

Hello Everyone,

i went to a 52-man tournament this weekend and finished 6th with my Rocklist

Decklist this time:

1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Karakas
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
3 Scrubland
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Windswept Heath
3 Wasteland
1 Dark Depths
1 Thespian Stage
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Loxodon Smiter
3 Stoneforge Mystic

3 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Liliana of the Veil
3 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Lingering Souls
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard:

2 Duress
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Golgari Charm
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Choke
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Engineered Explosives

last week i went to the 17-man tournament with a similar list, which sdematt posted somewhere earlier this page.
i tested 1x voice of resurgance and 1x gaddock teeg a lot, but the voice doesn`t have much impact on the game most of the time.
also i switched the one-of-gaddock teeg in the sideboard. luckily i drew him nearly every game i played against combo etc. but he is just too random without GSZ :P
this weekend i tested 2 loxodon-smiters in there place in adaption to matts idea, which did very well against the 2 RUG and Patriot decks i faced.
i`m a huge fan of the dark depths combo, which won me a lot of games in the past - espacially with my all time favourit card Knight of the Reliquary.
i also tested 2 hexmages sometimes ago but for building up the combo, a active knight is all you need.

one of the most important things im very proud of is that the manabase is very very solid - im nearly never manascrewed.

my Sideboard feels solid aswell - ethersworn canonist is the MVP here.
if you have some more ideas for versatile cards - let me know! :)

so here are my results:

Omnitell 0 / 2
Elves 2 / 1
Dark Maverick 2 / 0
RUG 2 / 0
RUG 2 / 1
Patriot 2 / 1 (we draw before making it out)

so finals standings were 4 / 1 / 1 - could be 5 / 1 / 0 :)

1. Omnitell:
i started with discard and 2 dark confidants.. but after 3 rounds of drawing StP into land into StP into Land into StP into Land i had nothing to pressure him and lost. game 2 i have boarded in canonists, duress, choke and charms. but never drew anything of them. only thing i land was a liliana which go to 6 loyality but that was one turn too late to enable her ultimate to destroy his lands... waste of time :)

2. Elves:
it was his first tournament and played without deathrite shamans nor Natural Order and Glimpse... i lost my first game because i had a slow clock with only lingering souls... but game 2 and 3 i land turn 2 Ethersworn Canonist followed up with Jitte and killed all his elves with StP and Golgari Charms.

3. Dark Maverick:
game 1 we trade a lot of stuff on board, but i stabilize myself and go for dark depths combo kill at 3 life - he had 15 life at this point.
game 2 i kill his dudes and lingering souls equipped with jitte seal the deal :)

4. RUG
game one he gets me to 3 life, where he was at 15. but i get mulitple lingering souls and a jitte online which gets me the life and jump blockers for his tarmogyfs i need
game two. he start with fetch, delver go.. i kept a hand with 2 wastelands and 3 other lands + StP AD and a Knight. so i waste him my turn and it turns out he kept a 1-land-hand, so i StP his delver next Round. i get an Knight online and waste his other lands so that he couldnt get anything out (never saw a submerge!) so 2 hits from my Knight (10/10) finished him off.

5. RUG
he took game 1.
game 2 we trade a lot of stuff but i won, because of having more dudes on the table, especially Lingering Souls.
game 3 lingering souls, deathrite shaman and a active Jitte won me the game.. i was around 1 life at some point but i had 4 counters on jitte and find a solution for every one of his creatures so he scoops.

6. Patriot:
first game i thoughtseize his Geist of Saint Traft, which is the most annoying creature of them. i beat him with loxodon smiter and lingering souls, which are again very favourable against them.
game 2 i lost because he stifle and bolts all my manadorks and lands.
game 3 he was manascrewed and i wasted him and AD his Lavamancer and forced him to FOW my Jitte, which i didnt need at all. i connect a choke and he scoops :)

(as said before we draw - but if not i would have placed 3rd)

greez from Bavaria / Germany.
Skizz

[sdematt]

Essentially went 7-2 at SCG Seattle. If I ever suggest cutting Golgari Charm from the sideboard, someone slap me. Card is CRAZY good. Smiters won many, many games. Vanilla 4/4 > Discard and Counterspells, and apparently, all the non-Tarmogoyf creatures in the format.

Insane Round 7 against Joe Lossett. The report will come later today :)

-Matt

[Manipulato]

Essentially went 7-2 at SCG Seattle. If I ever suggest cutting Golgari Charm from the sideboard, someone slap me. Card is CRAZY good. Smiters won many, many games. Vanilla 4/4 > Discard and Counterspells, and apparently, all the non-Tarmogoyf creatures in the format.

Insane Round 7 against Joe Lossett. The report will come later today :)

-Matt

You went in 17th Place, right? Shame on you ! It would be nice to see a Rock deck good positioned in a big turney.
9th and 17th are the worst place´s!
What exact list did you play?

Greetings

[AggroSteve]

i look forward to your report..... specially about the part that loxodon smiter is bigger than any other creature in the format aside of gofy.....

[sdematt]

And the report.

My list:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark confidant
2 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Loxodon Smiter

3 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Sylvan Library
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Abrupt Decay

3 Bayou
2 Scrubland
2 Savannah
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
1 Swamp
3 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas

//BOARD

1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Thalia, GoT
2 Golgari Charm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Lingering Souls

Round 1: Bennett with Werewolf Stax 2-0, 1-0

Bennett seems like a cool guy, and is a local, or very close to local. I win the die roll and have absolutely no read on what's on. I keep a decent hand against anything and go Turn 1 Deathrite. He goes Cavern on Humans. I'm thinking Maverick at this point. He passes. I go and drop Sylvan Library off a basic and swing for one. He plays Ancient Tomb and attempts to Blood Moon. I no sir him on that, and he gets a warning. He passes. I Sylvan and Wasteland him. He goes City of Traitors into Trinisphere, I Wasteland him. I trap him under the Sphere for a bit, then cast Knight. He plays Rakka Mar, I kill it. I beat him.



+3 Thalia, +2 Teeg, +2 Deed, +2 Charm
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Goyf, -1 STP

I figure he's also on the Chalice plan and I'm correct. He Chalices on 1 first turn, I play a land and GSZ on Turn 2 for Deathrite. I have a Plow in hand that's a bit useless. He starts playing Werewolves a little later into the game after I lay down Thalia and Gaddock Teeg, and he's laid down Chalice at 2 after I decay Chalice at 1 to use STP on a Werewolf. I run through a Decay through Chalice at 2 to kill a flipped something and rock his face. His answer for my board, Bonfire, is trapped under Teeg.



Round 2: Andrew with Death and Taxes 2-1, 2-0

I've seen Andrew at other tournaments, and I get a read that he's on Death and Taxes. First game is very back and forth until I get double STP'd off Smiter and Goyf who got him down to 8 life. He comes back with Aven Mindcensor and Thalia and a Jitte. Jitte goes nuts and I don't see the Decay until it's far too late.



+2 Deed, +2 Charm, +2 Needle, +1 Garruk, +2 Lingering Souls
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy, -2 Knight, -2 Goyf

DnT brings in Rest in Peace and smashes us over the head with it, so I just board out Goyf and Knight, and Ooze is there to gain infinite value if that doesn't happen. Save your STP people for the Mirran Crusader. This one isn't close. Turn 2 Sylvan buries him, and I get to both Charm and Deed him out of the game. He goes 20-19-13-5-2. Go go Loxodon Smiter not being affected by RIP! I also Needle Jitte here.


This is the game that gets more interesting. He gets active Jitte, but forgets the Jitte counters triggers once. At one point in the game where I have Ooze and Smiters on board, after just killing Liliana, he flashes in Flickerwisp to bounce his Stoneforge to go get a Batterskull. We shortcut and passes to me and I swords his SFM. Turns out, he doesn't have Batterskull, so I obviously want to back up and not STP the SFM here, since there's no value in doing so. We talk about it, and we call a judge to make sure we can back up. We can. I Swords the Wisp, then Charm out his team after he overextends to try and close the game in time. Smiter gets there.

Round 3: Tim with Rw Goblins 0-2, 2-1

Game one I know he's on Goblins, but I can't get enough pressure to close the game before he gums up the board with tokens. He Ringleaders a few times and I can't find removal. He try to trade back and forth, but then he breaks it open with Krenko and Siege Gang and I die.

+2 Pernicious Deed, +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Souls
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy, -3 Liliana

He gets a god draw and curves from Lackey, Piledriver, Warchief, Krenko, Ringleader, Matron for Stingscourger, etc. He also has double Relic of Progenitus. I Charm him once, I have to Deed for 1 and do some collateral damage, but he runs over me again. I didn't draw well and mulled to 6.

Round 4: Matt with Merfolk 2-0, 3-1

I catch a glimpse of a Merfolk as he's shuffling, so I figure he's on Merfolk. I keep a Sylvan into Liliana hand since it should be enough. He mulls to 6. I go Thoughtseize Vial, Sylvan, Liliana. He runs out Mutavault and 4 2-mana Lords. Oh god. I dig with Sylvan for removal, but I only find Smiters. Sure. He puts tons of pressure on board, but more guys join the party. He can't islandwalk past me, and I suicide some guys. I stay alive long enough to drop Ooze and gain back some life and create a good blocker. Arbor and Deathrites start chumping for life and I draw removal for the other Lords left alive. I start swinging with the the Smiter I have. 20-16-12-14-10-6-2 dead.

+2 Deed, +2 Souls, +1 Garruk Relentless, +1 Sylvan Safekeeper
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy, -1 Knight

I know to play around Submerge here. He has to mull to 5 with Turn 1 Wasteland as his only land. That's shitty. I fetch Forest into Deathrite, then Wasteland him next turn. He sits while I develop a great board of Smiters, Goyfs, and Deathrite. He draws Island, but it's WAY too late. 20-18-17-14-9-3.

Round 5: Thomas with OmniTell 1-2, 3-2

I figure he's on some kind of Combo deck since he starts off with a Ponder. I blind Cabal Therapy for Show and Tell and hit, seeing Dream Halls, Misty, Omni, Enter the Infinite, and Preordain. Shitty. I have a Goyf, but it doesn't race his hand.

+2 Golgari Charm, +2 Gaddock Teeg, +3 Thalia, +1 Safekeeper
-2 Goyf, -2 Knight, -3 Smiter, -1 Liliana.

He starts with a slower hand, but I have Cabal Therapy and Dryad in hand. I rip it apart, then Thoughtseize, then drop Thalia. Thalia leads to Smiter, and I just race him while he tries to assemble.

Game 3, he starts with Leyline of Sanctity but I keep a hatebear hand. I have Thalia and Gaddock Teeg and Dryad Arbor beating down. I can't discard him, so I sit there. I don't draw any manipulation and hit a bunch of lands. He goes off with a DOUBLE Cunning Wish hand to bounce both my hatebears then kill me. My Sylvan activation would have been into Cabal Therapy, Golgari charm, and a blank. Fack. Better lucky than good.

Round 6: Goblin Settler (Matt) from the Source with Goblins 2-0, 4-2

Of course I know Matt and this wasn't what I wanted to face. I lose my page of notes from this matchup, but the first game he bricked on action, and I had everything. Swords, Decay, Goyfs, Oozes, etc. It ended quickly.

+2 Pernicious Deed, +2 Golgari Charm, +2 Pithing Needle, +2 Souls
-3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy, -3 Liliana

I have a great hand, but Matt has to mull to 5. I steamroll over him with Sylvan, Souls, Garruk, Goyf, etc. because he has no mana to cast anything. This match didn't feel good since it's someone I know and super bad beats for him

Round 7: Joe Lossett with UWr Miracles 2-1, 5-2

Game one, Joe's on the play but I've got a great hand. I triple discard, Sylvan, and Liliana while ignoring Counterbalance. He does shortly.

-2 Knight, -2 Goyf, -3 STP, -3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy
+1 Garruk, +2 Souls, +2 Deed, +2 Needle, +3 Thalia, +2 Teeg, +1 Golgari Charm

I set up Garruk and Liliana, but I see no other action. I don't get to ultimate Liliana due to Venser bouncing. I Needle Top, but Jace comes down and I don't have Teeg in time.We fight back and forth, but I don't see enough pressure to close the game and he squeaks an entreat through while at 6 life and kills me. This match took 40 minutes.

Game 3 we started with little time to spare. It was very back and forth, but I land Sylvan and start drawing very deep. I run out Teeg to lock him out while I set up more pressure. He mises Karakas and bounces Teeg to land Jace. I land Teeg again, and we keep fighting back and forth. I get Garruk again and start making 2/2's. I lay down Deed for Angel tokens and we go to turns. I manage to Sylvan into the right cards to clear away his answers. I don't have Joe that turn, but I do next turn, my turn 7. Joe concedes since he's a gentleman and knows that I have it.

This was by far one of the most skill intensive and interesting matches I've played in the last long time. Very deep lines of play, very few mistakes from either player. We had a crowd going

Round 8: Nate with Reanimator 2-1, 6-2

I catch a glimpse of Underground Sea while shuffling, so I have him on Shardless BUG. Awesome, it's what I've wanted to see all day but haven't. Cool. I keep a 6 card hand of Karakas, Ooze, Sylvan, Land, Land, Thoughtseize. He goes to 5 cards. I Thoughtseize and see Reanimate, Exhume, Entomb, Careful Study, and misty Rainforest. I take Entomb and pass. He Careful Studies an Elesh Norn into the bin, and I act super frustrated. I drop Sylvan to pretend to dig. Elesh Norn gets Exhumed and I drop Karakas to bounce. I thoughtseize it away and then Ooze it up. He complains about people maindecking hate and scoops. This is Seattle, bub. Land of Combo and Graveyard.

+2 Needle, +3 Thalia
-2 Abrupt Decay, -3 Smiter

i keep a very decent 6 and know that Show and Tell could be looking. He keeps a nutty Turn 1 hand with first turn Entomb for Sire of Insanity, Petal, Reanimate. I lose since I can't keep cards in hand.

Game three we both keep decent 7's, but trade multiple discard spells and lose all our stuff. I draw Deathrite, he Brainstorms and finds Needle. I drop Sylvan and he gets Needle 2 for Karakas after I know he has Griselbrand. I Sylvan into Ooze and take the game since he never finds Show and Tell. I double Wasteland him to keep him under control.

Round 9: Stephen with UWr Miracles (Joe's list) 0-2, 6-3 // 7-2

Stephen was sitting beside Joe and I during our match so I knew what was up. We opted not to draw since we both weren't guaranteed to make Top 32 that way. So, we decide to play since I know Stephen is new and not as good a Joe, so I should end up smashing his dreams. Turns out, I don't. Game 1 I draw a decent hand then don't draw any pressure. He does a value Entreat for 2 then drops Jace, and I brick on threats.

-2 Knight, -2 Goyf, -3 STP, -3 Thoughtseize, -2 Cabal Therapy
+1 Garruk, +2 Souls, +2 Deed, +2 Needle, +2 Thalia, +2 Teeg, +2 Golgari Charm

Here, I keep a 2-lander with multiple cards from the board in hand. I keep, but then don't draw land for 12 turns. Very frustrating. Stephen makes several critical errors and still wins since I sit there like a limp starfish while he has his way with me. I don't really consider this a loss since this was just purely bad luck. My actual score was 6-3, good for 39th or something, but in spirit was 7-2. I feel like had Omni not had the double Wish hand, I could have gone X-1 and gone for Top 8 to crush some Patriot Delver in half. Oh well.

I get $50 for my troubles.

Smiter was very good all day in the non-combo matchups, of course. Thalia and especially Gaddock Teeg were key in winning Combo and Control matchups, moreso Teeg.

Souls was also good in gumming up the board and attacking Jace.

I'll field any questions.

-Matt

[maurobad2k4]

Smiter was very good all day in the non-combo matchups, of course. Thalia and especially Gaddock Teeg were key in winning Combo and Control matchups, moreso Teeg.

Souls was also good in gumming up the board and attacking Jace.

I'll field any questions.

-Matt

Hey Matt, do you think a 4th Smiter is needed or 3 is the right number ?

It`s been a while since I played The Rock but this deck always keeps me interested.

Thanks

[Megadeus]

Only thing. You can't play garruk with teeg in board right?

[HoneyT]

I catch a glimpse of a Merfolk as he's shuffling, so I figure he's on Merfolk.

Best thing I've read all day. Bravo sir. Bravo.

[sdematt]

Only thing. You can't play garruk with teeg in board right?

You can, you just play Garruk first, then you crush your opponents with Teeg. I played Garruk after Teeg had been bounced again to my hand by Karakas.

-Matt