Went to Atlanta for a magical dude-time at the StarCity this past weekend, but while drippily pacing back and forth between the bed and the sink at 4 a.m. on Sunday I decided it was better to sleep in than agonize over what to sideboard against Pox for the Open.
We all dropped a round to Pox in the Challenge the day before - me salvaging a 3-1 finish with Deadguy by beating Maverick, Death and Taxes, and Ad Nauseum Tendrils*; Sterling with Reanimator losing to my having loaned Carlisle the deck's Elesh Norn; and Quinten with Enchantress... all hating Pox by the end of it.
[* Slaughter Pact cannot target Tidehollow Sculler, even when it is holding your one copy of Tendrils, sir.]
Pox goes to top-deck mode by about turn four, and its plan is taking you there with it. Then it needs maybe ten or more awful turns to actually kill you, but in the meantime you have no grip and no land. I randomly windmill-slammed my one-of Elspeth off the top against the deck, and then spent a good 15 turns playing draw-go against an active LilianaOTV and Cursed Scroll, unable to maintain enough land to cast and keep a dude alive to just swoop in and kill his stupid third Lily, eventually unable even to afford Vindicating it.
Anyway that opponent said he dropped two rounds to Stoneblade, presumably because he can't do anything about Planeswalkers or artifacts, and I guess if blue keeps him off Smallpox or Sinkhole long enough it can resolve JaceTMS and handle top-deck mode quite nicely thank you.
A year or two ago my rationale in preparing for StarCity events was two-fold: 1) don't play blue; it's hard** and Merfolk is[/was] everywhere AND 2) actively fuck over people for making the obvious choice to play blue. Also, while in the abstract JaceTMS is the best planeswalker, ElspethKE not only trumps him but pulls her weight in a vacuum as well.
[** I know I've said before and continue to believe it is very hard to Hymn
to Tourach (read: Force of Will) yourself in a profitable way, and I
prefer to leave such meta-sustaining moves to keener players.]
Anyway. Adam Cai's list from the event does a lot of the things I wish I'd been doing last week while sighing over how linear G/w Maverick felt.*** But then I wasn't testing post-board, where Choke is pure Wayne Brady. I guess Cai thought so too, even though the card clearly hurt him as well.
[*** The urge to avoid the expected--Punishing Mav--was admittedly a totally off-with-the-nose-to-spite-the-face type of situmation. D'oh.]
The top lists that day packed a few surprises - when was the last time you saw Goblins vying for single-elim? Me, I left Death and Taxes for dead years ago. Now I'm wondering, could he just drop the Stoneforge Mystics for maindeck CatBoss, and instead of choosing among SwordOfs just play three Jittes? CatBoss is part of this dream I have where I Piss Some People Off.
And I like this micro-Zoo list, though his board-hate felt thin and left me wondering if he sometimes mulls to oblivion. Maybe because he can theoretically kill on three he just crushes[/ed] dreams anyway.
In other news, Past in Flames placed 2nd in a 156-man event, and didn't even run black to do so. Well, okay, yes, it did cast Burning Wish for the Tendrils, hitting the cost's BB via I guess Manamorphose or LED. It's interesting to me he went into White for Silence when black provides discard and more rituals, but thanks to his cheaper mana-base I'm planning to take this build for a spin soon, though I barely know how.
Also in that top-8, someone cowboyed up and made Back to Basics awesome in a Stoneblade shell. My one complaint is once your manas are boned the deck seems likely to then need two geologic epochs to actually dead your life to zero, but clearly that wasn't holding back others in contention that day.
Outside that, I just wanna get down with weird stuff like Elspeth Tirel, Volt Charge and Bloodgift Demon. Maybe I'm still sick...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tread upon the meek, and they shall wound your feet, and make you crawl.
Hey remember that time I boarded that one card that demapped all the Knights of the Reliquary, Progeniti, Emrakuls, Tarmogoyfs, Inkwell Leviathans, Tombstalkers and Dreadnoughts?
This card could seriously kill all of those bastards at the same time - while leaving my Bob, Mirran Crusader, Mom and Tidehollow Sculler intact.
Oh, and it was easier to cast than Vindicate.
("What are you yammering about, Dan?")
Seriously, do you remember that shit?
The guy that got 10th at Star City St. Louis just might: he boarded two copies of the same card!
Retribution of the Meek (Visions)
2W - Sorcery - Bury all creatures with power 4 or greater.
Yeahhh!
The price has ticked up about a buck in the last two months; it's now in the $3 range. So while it hasn't exploded the way Peacekeeper did last fall, I'm clearly not the only one who's noticed it in Legacy...
This card could seriously kill all of those bastards at the same time - while leaving my Bob, Mirran Crusader, Mom and Tidehollow Sculler intact.
Oh, and it was easier to cast than Vindicate.
("What are you yammering about, Dan?")
Seriously, do you remember that shit?
The guy that got 10th at Star City St. Louis just might: he boarded two copies of the same card!
Retribution of the Meek (Visions)
2W - Sorcery - Bury all creatures with power 4 or greater.
Yeahhh!
The price has ticked up about a buck in the last two months; it's now in the $3 range. So while it hasn't exploded the way Peacekeeper did last fall, I'm clearly not the only one who's noticed it in Legacy...
Some Events
In Spring of 2012 a bunch of cool events are happening and I will have a hard time keeping track of them.
Thus I will compile some reminders for my dumb self to reference later:
Jan 7-8 : Star City Atlanta
Feb 25-26 : Star City Memphis
March 10-11 : Grand Prix Indianapolis (Legacy)
March 17-18 : Grand Prix Nashville (Sealed/Booster)
And June 30-July 1 is Grand Prix Atlanta, but no idea on the format there.
One other note to self: 13 stupid points is good for Level 2 as far as Star City 2012 is concerned which is good for free sleeves at each event. Angels, please.
Thus I will compile some reminders for my dumb self to reference later:
Jan 7-8 : Star City Atlanta
Feb 25-26 : Star City Memphis
March 10-11 : Grand Prix Indianapolis (Legacy)
March 17-18 : Grand Prix Nashville (Sealed/Booster)
And June 30-July 1 is Grand Prix Atlanta, but no idea on the format there.
One other note to self: 13 stupid points is good for Level 2 as far as Star City 2012 is concerned which is good for free sleeves at each event. Angels, please.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Oh Crap Oh Goodness
I have no idea why Steven got rid of this blog's awesome Gaddock Teeg profile picture looking all haggard and metal. I was not consulted.
Anyway.
You probably didn't need the ol' Sexy Team of Dudes to tell you the printing of Batterskull promoted Stoneforge Mystic from powerful to bonkers in Legacy. (If in fact you did need that, well, why are we talking? To bring you up to speed, this year something called Mental Misstep happened for awhile, then went away. Good catching up!)
Of late, on top of SFM, you also have two smallish blue guys steering the format: Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets. Personally I feel Snapcaster is good but overplayed, but then I've been putting off dropping a hundred stupid dollars on a set because, after all, he's "just" a rare.
Delver of Secrets on the other hand ($0.25) seems really fun, and has heralded a new incarnation of Tempo Thresh (1/129). Similarly: 1/40. Yep. I'm looking forward to sleeving this up, though a bit wary, because it demands flawless play in the first few turns. Judging when to hold U open for Stifle or Spell Snare and when to instead risk running a Delver out with limited protection may distill a whole game down to one pivotal either/or, and for loose-playing bastards like me that is frightening.
But as far we're concerned with beating men down while denying them resources, there are other games in town: I'm in love with G/W Maverick like this: T8/94. I've long thought Aven Mindcensor was underplayed, and in conjunction with repeated Wastelands via Knight of the Reliquary it's just criminal. Basically the only card you can't tutor out immediately is Swords to Plowshares, but with Maze of Ith at the KotR's disposal, as well as potentially using Green Sun's Zenith to get an early StP back with Eternal Witness, well... you've got options. Also, as I understand it, untapping and reusing KotR via Scryb Ranger does not remove it from combat. Oh, and did you see this one extra-crazy build featuring Birthing Pod? T8/129. Jesus.
Now might be a good time to also note how Scavenging Ooze has been catching on, even in unexpected places (Aggro Loam, T8, SCG Vegas). Having game against Ichorid pre-board is a hell of a thing, and the Ooze lends all types of edge in a million other match-ups as well, even if it is ridiculous that one card costs $20ish when the whole Commander pile it's from retails around $30.
Other tangent: A lot of the dudes we're talking about today (Snapcaster, Stoneforge, Delver, etc along with a slew of others lower on the radar) have something in common, and that is they all die to Punishing Fire. The combo with Grove of the Burnwillows got a big-up for Legacy in some control deck with I think Counterbalance in late contention at some Star City last month, but as you'd expect, what's cranking my personal tractor is the Worlds Finalist Incorporating It In Maverick. Note the big 24 land, including maindeck Bojuka Bog there.
The combo is also spicing up your more conventional Zoo list (T16 SCG Vegas) in profound and exciting ways that Kavu Predator doesn't seem to mind (T8/129) at all. Seems. Fun.
Wrapping up, I don't get why Burn keeps making T16s at StarCity and the like, but it do. Yesterday I picked up four Goblin Guides for $4 (thanks Chuck!) so I may just have to sleeve up a Sligh, but these slopes can prove slippery: I recently built Soul Sisters thinking it wouldn't require any cards I was using elsewhere, only to find myself snapping up still more Elspeths and Stoneforge Mystics (I'm now into double-digit territory on SFMs) in order to tune it.
And no, there is no ranking Legacy Soul Sisters list to link there; I looked.
I mention always needing more Stoneforges only because part of me worries: doesn't this list (T8/129) look a lot like what got SFM banned in Standard? It's played alongside everything from Hymn to Tourach to Force of Will to Tarmogoyf. You can argue that just means it's being widely adopted, but that argument didn't save Skullclamp. Or Mental Misstep.
-Dan
Anyway.
You probably didn't need the ol' Sexy Team of Dudes to tell you the printing of Batterskull promoted Stoneforge Mystic from powerful to bonkers in Legacy. (If in fact you did need that, well, why are we talking? To bring you up to speed, this year something called Mental Misstep happened for awhile, then went away. Good catching up!)
Of late, on top of SFM, you also have two smallish blue guys steering the format: Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets. Personally I feel Snapcaster is good but overplayed, but then I've been putting off dropping a hundred stupid dollars on a set because, after all, he's "just" a rare.
Delver of Secrets on the other hand ($0.25) seems really fun, and has heralded a new incarnation of Tempo Thresh (1/129). Similarly: 1/40. Yep. I'm looking forward to sleeving this up, though a bit wary, because it demands flawless play in the first few turns. Judging when to hold U open for Stifle or Spell Snare and when to instead risk running a Delver out with limited protection may distill a whole game down to one pivotal either/or, and for loose-playing bastards like me that is frightening.
But as far we're concerned with beating men down while denying them resources, there are other games in town: I'm in love with G/W Maverick like this: T8/94. I've long thought Aven Mindcensor was underplayed, and in conjunction with repeated Wastelands via Knight of the Reliquary it's just criminal. Basically the only card you can't tutor out immediately is Swords to Plowshares, but with Maze of Ith at the KotR's disposal, as well as potentially using Green Sun's Zenith to get an early StP back with Eternal Witness, well... you've got options. Also, as I understand it, untapping and reusing KotR via Scryb Ranger does not remove it from combat. Oh, and did you see this one extra-crazy build featuring Birthing Pod? T8/129. Jesus.
Now might be a good time to also note how Scavenging Ooze has been catching on, even in unexpected places (Aggro Loam, T8, SCG Vegas). Having game against Ichorid pre-board is a hell of a thing, and the Ooze lends all types of edge in a million other match-ups as well, even if it is ridiculous that one card costs $20ish when the whole Commander pile it's from retails around $30.
Other tangent: A lot of the dudes we're talking about today (Snapcaster, Stoneforge, Delver, etc along with a slew of others lower on the radar) have something in common, and that is they all die to Punishing Fire. The combo with Grove of the Burnwillows got a big-up for Legacy in some control deck with I think Counterbalance in late contention at some Star City last month, but as you'd expect, what's cranking my personal tractor is the Worlds Finalist Incorporating It In Maverick. Note the big 24 land, including maindeck Bojuka Bog there.
The combo is also spicing up your more conventional Zoo list (T16 SCG Vegas) in profound and exciting ways that Kavu Predator doesn't seem to mind (T8/129) at all. Seems. Fun.
Wrapping up, I don't get why Burn keeps making T16s at StarCity and the like, but it do. Yesterday I picked up four Goblin Guides for $4 (thanks Chuck!) so I may just have to sleeve up a Sligh, but these slopes can prove slippery: I recently built Soul Sisters thinking it wouldn't require any cards I was using elsewhere, only to find myself snapping up still more Elspeths and Stoneforge Mystics (I'm now into double-digit territory on SFMs) in order to tune it.
And no, there is no ranking Legacy Soul Sisters list to link there; I looked.
I mention always needing more Stoneforges only because part of me worries: doesn't this list (T8/129) look a lot like what got SFM banned in Standard? It's played alongside everything from Hymn to Tourach to Force of Will to Tarmogoyf. You can argue that just means it's being widely adopted, but that argument didn't save Skullclamp. Or Mental Misstep.
-Dan
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