Wednesday 14 November 2012

Standard at the Games Club 8/11

Pat Chapin drew my attention to this particular beauty from a recent SCG standard open:



Wow. Yes, it kinda looks like a pile at a cursory glance. Nightshade Peddler? hes not even that good in limited! But how could i resist the chance to play Izzet Staticasters in the main deck? And Zealous Conscripts & Deadeye navigator?! Bliss! i had to try it.
I've not included the board as i didnt have hardly any of it. In fact i was short a few cards from the main deck, but i figured id be able to borrow those.
Read on for how it went!


Roy was kind enough to loan me a conscripts, rootbound crag and 2 gilded lotus, bart loaned me 2 more huntmasters so i was good to go.

I made one change to the main deck from the list above, i chopped the single maindeck pillar (why is this in there? really? i just put 3 in the board instead) for 1 acidic slime. i think i added a 3rd jace for something, but cant remember what. Maybe a land?
the side was completely different, i had a hodgepodge at best, the only thing i kept from the original list was the 2 slaughter games.

Round 1, bant control.
I win the roll but have to ship my 7.
the 6 seems okay and we get going, nothing much happens for a while, he makes the uncounterable loxodon smiter, i mizzium mortars it, he starts attempting to drop fatty thragtusks and sphinx' revelations and i keep countering them, however the counters dry up, as do any other spells, he miracles an entreat for 5 leaving 6 up just in case, i die with 16 mana and nothing to do.
game 2
i turn 2 farseek into turn 3 slaughter games (WHOOP)
hes got forest, hinterland harbor, hallowed fountain but has no choice but to take it (gots to love uncounterable cranial extractions!!)
i ponder over what to pick, i think the one i chose was the obvious choice, but i said 'its either thragtusk or entreat'
i pick thragtusk
he reveals his hand of
land
land
syncopate
THRAGTUSK
THRAGTUSK
THRAGTUSK

OH.
YEAH.
He exiles all 3 and i rip the 4th from his library.
the game take a while to finish off, but he basically doesnt come back from that.

game 3
bit cagier
(though again, turn 3 slaughter games naming thragtusk from me, he had none in hand this time though)
i drip feed my threats as he'd revealed 2 sweepers to the 'games
he sticks a tamiyo but i manage to deal with it.
im bashing face with an acidic slime and stick a deadeye navigator (whoop!), i anticipate hes sweeping but i can afford to blink. so i do. i think hes now out of sweepers.
time is called
i stick a huntmaster
he drops armada wurm
i drop the slowrolled conscripts to steal a wurm and bash for the win.

feels gooood.

notes for the round
the 3 nightshade peddler and 3 staticaster were sided out.

Round 2
esper control
id not met the guy before but he knew roy, apparently hes a decent player that mostly plays in bath at his uni. He knew what i was playing and said its a bad matchup for him. im unsure, we start.
i drip feed out my threats and eventually take it with a huntmaster.
he drownyards me for a lot. but he reveals all his lingering souls he could do nothing with as i was sitting on a staticaster. good times!
i anticipate him siding out the souls but not sorins, so i side out 2 of the staticasters and the peddlers for slaughter games and counters.
game 2 i turn 3 slaughter games, naming sorin. i dont really know why i named sorin. sphinx' revelation was the correct choice.
he had no sorins in hand but 2 revelations. i rip the 2 sorins from his deck and the game continues.
i get ahead on mana thanks to farseek and stick a tamiyo. which keeps me even more ahead on mana
and acidic slime even moreso.
i ultimate tamiyo with her at 9 counters to get the emblem of awesome.
and cast the other slaughter games
and i cast it again
and again
and lots more times really until he literally has nothing left in his deck to threaten me.
i then win with niv mizzet.

 notes for the round. peddler out again.

round 3
zombies
i win the roll but have to ship to 6
thankfully hes got a slow hand. his first play being turn 3 dreg mangler into my wall of counters
except he has cavern of souls
sad panda
his turn 4 rancor eats a dissipate out of spite
he builds an army, but a timely mizzium mortars sweeps his board with me on 11
huntmaster comes down and wins it.
game 2 he has 'that' draw
1 drop
1 drop 1 drop
messenger
my pillar into huntmaster wasnt enough, he had the follow ups and i die
game 3 i ship to 6 again but keep, i pillar his first 2 plays and tamiyo his troll. he vraskas my tamiyo (sad panda) i drop a huntmaster and through flipping and throwing away the wolf token deal with vraska. he crippling blights my ravager and it becomes a race basically with us both at 20 but him knocking me to 17.
we trade hits of 3 for a few turns until he drops gravecrawler (hes being careful not to flip ravager back)
then diregraf ghoul
im drawing pure blanks
mortars off the top helps but only to delay gravecrawler a turn and kill teh ghoul
3 more lands in a row and im dead.
frustratement.
i worked out any of about a dozen or more cards from around 4 to 5 draw steps wouldve swung it for me, but lands is all i see'd. dat magic eh.

note for round
i didnt side out peddler.


round 4
turns out it was junk rites. but i couldnt tell from game 1.
i win the roll
he drops an arbor elf
i farseek
he lands and attacks
i land
he land attacks
i land, acidic slime his temple garden
he attacks. no land.
i land, deadeye navigator!!!
he scoops.

super awesome LD i win button is cool!
however i dont know what hes playing.
i dont board.
he boards.

game 2
he drops 3 early grisly salvages into lingering souls and troll. im under the kosh. i manage to deal with the first troll by stealing it and izzet charming it (he forgot to regen shield it before passing it over, he remembers after but i wasnt allowing that freebie)
he drops another troll and pitches griselbrand and unburial rites him
i have 2 choices. drop my second conscripts, stealing griselbrand and hoping going back up to 19 and maybe drawing cards. or tamiyo and just lock 'brand down.
i lock the 'brand down. he draws 7 and pitches and rites' a craterhoof behemoth and kills me.
doh.
game 3 goes much the same.
i struggle to deal with his early pressure from spirits, troll and thragtusk. when i do stabilise he goes over the top with rites on behemoth. 
i did bring in slaughter games but didnt see it.
gg
shame

note for round
i sided out peddler.


so thoughts
peddler was shit.
he did some work agaisnt zombies, making anything in my deck able to trade with a messenger. but i didnt once get the deathtouching staticaster combo online in any meaningful situation.
staticaster was okay in that one match. but was poor otherwise.

however all the deadeye navigator interactions were sweet.
especially the turn 6 land machine gun with acidic slime

so im thinking i would definitely play this again
but - 3 peddler, - 3 staticaster
+1 deadeye
+1 conscripts (which was surprisingly boss on its own more than a few times)
+2 acidic slime
+1 mizzium mortars
+1 huntmaster

and a better sideboard.

This makes the deck slightly weaker to aggro, but due to counters, good sweepers and thragtusks, more decks are trying to go long than aggro.

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