[Primer] PyroRed

[amcfvieira]

My saturday test went well and I won a small tournament of 4 rounds. I play the last list I talked (but with 15 cards in sideboard and not 12, lol), because I work in morning and didn't had time to think a lot in the deck. The list:

[deck]Creatures
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantments
3 Chained to the Rocks

Instants and Sorcerys
4 Lightning Strike
4 Searing Blood
4 Shock
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Boros Charm

Lands
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
12 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Chained to the Rocks
4 Skullcrack
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Revoke Existence
2 Assemble the Legion
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Boros Charm
[/deck]

My first opinion about Firedancer is that is best than I think. I think I can be addicted to that creature. Searing Blood is really good, I don't know if 4
is the number, but it will be in my deck for sure.
I win 2-0 round 1 against Rw devotion and in this game Searing Blood play nice and I only see Firedancer in game one where my opponent flood a lot and was killed by a army of YP elementals.
Round 2 I win 2-0 against Mono Blue. Firedancer win me game one for itsellf. I never had one victory like that in game one. Burn to the face and kill creature 3-1 with Searing Blood + Firedancer, so good. In Game two I only board in 1x Chained to the Rocks and 1x Mizzium Mortars for the two Boros Charm (I had problems with the white in the tournament).
Round 3 I win 2-0 against a Mono Red Firedancer/YP/Burn deck. Not much to say, unless I burn him and the creatures. YP in game one and Firedancer in game two gave me a easy victory.
Round 4 I ID with a Mono Back and split almost a half box, and play for the unpaired booster. Win 2-1. In game one I think I will lose but YP+Firedancer bring me back from a hole where thought to be sentenced. Really great Synergy's! Kill
creature, put token, superb! Game two I lose to a pack rat when I was without burn. I couldn't finish the game with a Dragon and lose. I had board in 9 cards for that game and I didn't see any. I think change, but I figure that I want to test that sideboard plan for really and for that I want to play exactly the same (only change one card from game 2 for 3). I win that game putting pressure with Mutavault + burn, and kill is creatures until I lock him with Firedancer + YP and finish the game with a Dragon. He show me 2 Gray Merchant and he told me I was lucky, and I showed him 3x Skullcrack in the hand and we laughed. I win one more booster, but he open a Brimaz, lol

I like both cards now is time to think how the deck will be. I like the 24 lands too, but maybe I have to put one plain or 2...

[Midnight_v]

Hmm... oracle of bones and . . . threaten effects? Maybe?

[Alex]

So here's my question: Why are you guys still playing white when black has so much more to offer now? The original reason that white was seeing play was due to having its Temples, but now Temple of Malice is out. Dreadbore is strictly better than Chained to the Rocks. They're both sorcery speed, yet Dreadbore interacts with Young Pyromancer and also doesn't leave your opponent with the option of boarding in enchantment removal and blowing you out with Revoke Existence. I'll gladly pay an extra mana for that, especially since it can also kill target Jace.

I mean, I'm going to convert to something like this:

[deck]Walter Black[/deck]

[Alex]

You can play Doom Blade in the Dreadbore slot if you really want to, I just wouldn't make that choice knowing that mono black is one of the prominent decks in the format. If GR monsters starts seeing an upswing that would be a safe transition, but at the moment I am still erring on the side of Dreadbore despite it being a worse spell.

[amcfvieira]

I'm thinking in move to black too. But only have one temple of Malice yet. If I play a more oriented burn deck, I think white will be superior because Boros Charm and Helix. In a more Slight Version I think Black can be better.

@Alex
Bile Blight with only 8 black manas, it's a little greedy

[Valdarith]

I've been on the RB for awhile now so getting the scrylands was just gravy. That said, you want Ultimate Price over Doom Blade to deal with Master of Waves and mono black creatures. Hitting Master and fiendslayer paladin are the only upsides to Chained over Dreadbore.

[BrainsickHater]

[quote="Alex » Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:05 am"]So here's my question: Why are you guys still playing white when black has so much more to offer now? The original reason that white was seeing play was due to having its Temples, but now Temple of Malice is out. Dreadbore is strictly better than Chained to the Rocks. They're both sorcery speed, yet Dreadbore interacts with Young Pyromancer and also doesn't leave your opponent with the option of boarding in enchantment removal and blowing you out with Revoke Existence. I'll gladly pay an extra mana for that, especially since it can also kill target Jace.

I think the walker removal is
very nice, but it's really only relevant against UW control. Other than that, I don't think that Dreadbore is 'strictly better.' Chained started seeing play because Red Devotion decks had trouble against MU and needed an answer for Master of Waves. Not only does Chained not hit Master, it doesn't hit Thassa. Chained IS a catch-all creature removal spell, and it does it's job at a mana cost that is very attractive to an aggressive deck. Sure Revoke Existence hits Chained, but there is no deck in standard that plays Revoke Existence against which we would also want to play Chained to the Rocks very badly. I would much rather stay in white.

[Alex]

Ultimate Price hits Master of Waves and is actually strictly better. I can't remember the last time I needed to exile Thassa, as long as she isn't active she is pretty awful.

Black just has better cards to offer overall. The whole removal suite is such a huge deal and they can all be metagamed. In a meta with devotion decks play Ultimate Price. In one that varies more, Dreadbore main, UP side. Lots of RG monsters? Doom Blade.

[Valdarith]

I agree with Alex on black being superior here. I don't necessarily think UP is STRICTLY better since they have issues dealing with certain targets (Specter, Reckoner, other multis for UP and Stormbreath Dragon for Chained) but Chained has its own issues in getting destroyed/bounced and also not being a spell for YP$. The sheer amount of terminates you can play post board with black is simply ridiculous. You have a hard time losing to mono black and Gr postboard with Rb Pyro.

[Alex]

Things that are relevant that Ultimate Price doesn't hit or kill:
Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
Any god.
Mutavault.

Mutavault's colors = 0. 0 != 1. You couldn't kill Blood Baron with Chained to the Rocks either so that guy is still a pain in the ass, but he is always just going to be incredibly hard to kill, he was designed that way.

Things that the deck can already kill easily that Ultimate Price doesn't hit:
Nightveil Specter.

Your deck is full of damage spells that kill it, you don't have to worry about 4 of your 12~16 removal spells not hitting it.

Things that are multicolored and irrelevant because they aren't seeing play anymore:
Boros Reckoner.

You shouldn't be metagaming against Boros Reckoner, it isn't seeing play.

Relevant things Ultimate Price can kill in game 1:
Palukranos, World Eater.
nStormbreath Dragon.
Desecration Demon.
Pack Rat.
Arbor Colossus.
Basically every other creature above x/2 that the deck sometimes struggles with killing.





Just food for thought.

[Alex]

Also Slaughter Games out of the board seems sweet, I just need to buy some.

[BrainsickHater]

Dark Betrayal can't target Blood Baron....

Slaughter games seems sweet for sure though.

I think I'm really warming up to this RB thing. I'm imagining a decklist that plays a bunch of Satyr Firedancer and Young Pyromancer and we play so much removal every deck will cry. Against UW we get Rakdos Return, Stormbreath Dragon, Toil // Trouble, Slaughter Games, just a whole bunch of stuff.

[Valdarith]

Toil / Trouble, Skullcrack, and a singleton Slaughter Games is more than enough to handle UW.

[Mr. Metronome]

What does your current list look like Val? Trying to find my deck for a GPT this weekend.

[Valdarith]

Wow, good timing Mr. Metronome! I was just about to post a list for Windstrider after his suggestion in our clan thread to further the discussion on PyroBlack.

This is something I'd like to try out. It seems reasonably positioned at the moment.

[deck]Post BNG PyroBlack v1.0[/deck]

Very low curve with good sideboard tech against everything for games two and three.

vs UWx control: -4 Shock, -3 Ultimate Price, +4 Skullcrack, +1 Dreadbore, +2 Satyr Nyx-Smith. They like to side in Archangel of Thune,
so we hedge by bringing in the fourth Dreadbore.

vs Mono Black Devotion: -4 Shock, -4 Magma Jet, +2 Dark Betrayal, +1 Ultimate Price, +1 Dreadbore, +4 Skullcrack. Side into more high-impact spells for this match.

vs Gr Monsters: -4 Shock (if on the play), -4 Magma Jet (if on the draw), +2 Doom Blade, +1 Dreadbore, +1 Ultimate Price. Burning a turn one Elvish Mystic is critical here so we want to keep our Shocks in if we're on the draw.

vs Rx/Wx aggro and Mono Blue Devotion: -4 Rakdos Cackler, -4 Firedrinker Satyr, +2 Doom Blade, +1 Ultimate Price, +1 Dreadbore, +3 Searing Blood, +1 Satyr Nyx-Smith. Play control.

vs Burn: -4 Firedrinker Satyr, -3 Dreadbore, +4 Skullcrack, +3 Searing Blood. Searing Blood comes in to help against opposing Chandra's Phoenix. Dreadbore comes out and we leave Ultimate Price in to deal with Stormbreath Dragon.

Of note: I want to find room for a second Chandra. I could cut a Shock to do this but that would require rebuilding the sideboard.

[Jack]

vs Gr Monsters: -4 Shock (if on the play), -4 Magma Jet (if on the draw), +2 Doom Blade, +1 Dreadbore, +1 Ultimate Price. Burning a turn one Elvish Mystic is critical here so we want to keep our Shocks in if we're on the draw.

Can we discuss this? I've found that this is a deck where our best plan of attack actually isn't going to be burning off their elves, since we really don't beat them in the early game (they end it too quickly). Shock is really only good when it's Stone Rain (i.e. they've kept a sketchy hand).
I think I'd also prefer a game 2 plan where we don't have to play 8 1-drops that can't play defense at all. I'm thinking that Shock and Magma Jet might actually be better than our 1-drops, since we can't expect our
creatures to connect more than once against a deck where the only noncreature spells either get you more creatures, act as removal, or both.

[windstrider]

@Val — I like this as a starting point, but I'd personally want 23 lands. I'd suggest -1 Dreadbore, -1 Ultimate Price for +2 Mountain. The flexibility to cast more than one thing a turn is invaluable for a deck like this.

[zemanjaski]

Val's deck looks like it was built by a competent magic player. That's so rare these days.

[Alex]

I've become too addicted to Mouthbreather Dragon to play any build that plays Ashley. I also wasn't insanely impressed with Firedrinker Satyr, but there are a LOT of people locally playing Pyro variants so he is underwhelming in a field like that.

Turns out we're pretty popular in the Charlotte, NC area.

[Alex]

Satyr Firedancer has also not been terribly good to me. We played them in the board and they were pretty much useless, the deck is already extraordinarily good at beating strategies where you'd board in Satyr. (Any deck that plays Soldier of the Pantheon and mono R matchups) I think I'm going to switch them for Downfalls.

[Pyreheart Bezerra]

When we were trying this before BNG, Pack Rat was coming in out of the board. He has some great synergy with [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card]. However I was also playing mutavaults in the list as well.

[Pyreheart Bezerra]

@Alex, firedancer's stock drops immensely once you drop burn for terrors. But I think you guys got there on your own.

[Pyreheart Bezerra]

@Val, I like skullcrack alot, I can also see dropping 1 or 2 for Erebos, God of the Dead. Obviously he will never be a creature, but his draw ability is very useful in the matches we bring him (and skullcrack) in for.

Things I have been thinking about:
-Exava, where/how does she fit?
-Is Gild an effect the deck wants at 4 mana? (Probably not)
-Pain Seer? (Seems like a trap, another Probably not)

[Jasper]

Isn't game 2 vs Black going to be unwinnable with so many sweepers?

[Valdarith]

Wow, lots of responses. I love it! Let's get down to business.

vs Gr Monsters: -4 Shock (if on the play), -4 Magma Jet (if on the draw), +2 Doom Blade, +1 Dreadbore, +1 Ultimate Price. Burning a turn one Elvish Mystic is critical here so we want to keep our Shocks in if we're on the draw.

Can we discuss this? I've found that this is a deck where our best plan of attack actually isn't going to be burning off their elves, since we really don't beat them in the early game (they end it too quickly). Shock is really only good when it's Stone Rain (i.e. they've kept a sketchy hand).

I think I'd also prefer a game 2 plan where we don't have to play 8 1-drops that can't play defense at all. I'm thinking that Shock and Magma Jet might actually be better than our 1-drops, since we can't expect our creatures to connect more than once against a deck where the only noncreature spells either get you more creatures, act as removal, or both.

I actually think "turn one Shock your elf" is the best thing you can be doing against Gr. Having played the deck extensively I can't even begin to tell you how much my heart drops when my turn one Mystic gets taken down. It really slows down my gameplan because my deck is so top heavy. My only turn two plays without a Mystic on the field are Sylvan Caryatid and Mizzium Mortars. Think about that for a minute. I've also been on the winning and losing end of a turn two Domri and I want that to happen as little as possible, regardless of whether or not we are running Dreadbore.

As for the postboard plan, uou may actually
be correct here. It's entirely possible that siding in exactly like we do in the other aggro matchups is the best way to go. Searing Blood actually isn't that bad against Gr because we can double burn one of their guys and still get to dome our opponent with damage. Gr can't really deal with a late-game Young Pyromancer and Chandra's Phoenix spewing out value.

@Val — I like this as a starting point, but I'd personally want 23 lands. I'd suggest -1 Dreadbore, -1 Ultimate Price for +2 Mountain. The flexibility to cast more than one thing a turn is invaluable for a deck like this.

There's nothing wrong with wanting more land necessarily, but if you want to go that route I think Mutavault is the best choice. You already have 18 red sources which is plenty for Ash Zealot and Phoenix. This deck has little to do with the extra mana and flooding is the last thing I want to do here. I will gladly sit on three mana for awhile.

I also don't think
cutting two terrors is where you want to be, especially with Gr rising in popularity. The first spell I'd cut would be the fourth Shock.

Val's deck looks like it was built by a competent magic player. That's so rare these days.

Thanks, zem. That's a huge compliment. I've learned a lot being with this clan and am continuing to grow with guidance from strong and experienced players like you.

I've become too addicted to Mouthbreather Dragon to play any build that plays Ashley. I also wasn't insanely impressed with Firedrinker Satyr, but there are a LOT of people locally playing Pyro variants so he is underwhelming in a field like that.

Turns out we're pretty popular in the Charlotte, NC area.

I can understand that. If other people are on Pyro lists I really don't want to be playing Satyr, and I
definitely want some number of Stormbreath Dragon.

Satyr Firedancer has also not been terribly good to me. We played them in the board and they were pretty much useless, the deck is already extraordinarily good at beating strategies where you'd board in Satyr. (Any deck that plays Soldier of the Pantheon and mono R matchups) I think I'm going to switch them for Downfalls.

Firedancer is much less effective in a deck that already runs terrors and has access to fewer burn spells than RW. We don't have high-impact burn spells like Boros Charm and Warleader's Helix to push us in that direction.

When we were trying this before BNG, Pack Rat was coming in out of the board. He has some great synergy with [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card]. However I was also playing mutavaults in the list as well.

I decided
to go with the extra speed while keeping a low reliance on black mana. Having only six black spells to cast in game one and never really wanting to cast them on curve really helps.

@Val, I like skullcrack alot, I can also see dropping 1 or 2 for Erebos, God of the Dead. Obviously he will never be a creature, but his draw ability is very useful in the matches we bring him (and skullcrack) in for.

Things I have been thinking about:
-Exava, where/how does she fit?
-Is Gild an effect the deck wants at 4 mana? (Probably not)
-Pain Seer? (Seems like a trap, another Probably not)

Skullcrack sees play against mono black and mono blue. We're never going to win a card advantage battle with those two decks, so Skullcrack is a better place to be.

I love love LOVE Exava, but I put the singleton Chandra in the deck instead. She just has more
synergy and is a lot harder to answer.

Isn't game 2 vs Black going to be unwinnable with so many sweepers?

Nope. They run Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow postboard. Bile Blight can take out our tokens but leaves up the Pyromancer so they need two kill spells to cast the turn they want to clear them out. As for Drown in Sorrow, just don't overextend. It's a two-of in most mono black lists so it's not as worrisome as Supreme Verdict.

[Jasper]

I like it, and I especially like how everything is inexpensive.

One more question. My noob brain can't wrap itself around how I'm supposed to use Satyr Nyx-Smith. Is it only to be used as a mana sink? I see the card advantage it provides, but wouldn't something like Hammer of Purphoros do the same thing in that role? Thanks.

[Purp]

Once it resolves, in theory you should no longer have to commit any more permanents to the board. Hammer is good in decks where you have plenty of lands to sacrifice, ie RW Devotion

[zemanjaski]

You won't have many excess lands in a 21 and deck so the idea is that on average, you'll get more value from Nyx-Smith. Its close of course.

[Mr. Metronome]

This looks awesome. Pretty sure I'm about to sell Mono Black online to play this. What's your board plan vs Mono Blue? Same as other aggro decks?

[Jasper]

Once it resolves, in theory you should no longer have to commit any more permanents to the board. Hammer is good in decks where you have plenty of lands to sacrifice, ie RW Devotion

You won't have many excess lands in a 21 and deck so the idea is that on average, you'll get more value from Nyx-Smith. Its close of course.

Thanks, that makes sense.

I may have to dump my crummy little red devo list to play this on Friday. I own everything except the Temple's.

Edit:

I'm guessing that against Blood Baron of Vizkopa we are content with just using 2 burn spells on it? Or
rather, ignoring the damage and just dropping a Skullcrack?

[Alex]

@Alex, firedancer's stock drops immensely once you drop burn for terrors. But I think you guys got there on your own.

Our version of the deck still plays 12 burn spells, which is a pretty decent amount. The problem isn't "this card is bad when you are playing more Terror effects," but rather "This deck is already really good against decks that play small creatures, so it isn't doing anything for me anyway."

Those slots could just be more easily devoted to shoring up a matchup that is actually difficult, like mono U.

[Jasper]

I've decided to sleeve this up for Friday night, but I have one more question. What is the preferred turn 1 play, in game 1, given that my starting hand has both a Tapland and a Mountain, and I have a Cackler/Firepisser? Should I play the Tapland, or do I start with a threat and play the mountain? I know this depends on the rest of your starting hand to a degree, if you NEED the scry, but in general, whats the best line for this deck to take?

I understand that game 2/3's decision will be based on what your opponent is playing, and who is the beatdown, etc.

[Purp]

Play the 1 drop. Every time.

[windstrider]

Play the 1 drop. Every time.

Pretty much this. If you have the 1-drops in, then you need to be using them from the first turn.

[amcfvieira]

Play the 1 drop. Every time.

100% agree. You will take much profit from your Scry land in second turn when you can see what your opponent is playing, and act/scry in accord with that.

[Mr. Metronome]

Just put this together on MTGO, it's performing awesomely. A lot more fun to play than Mono Black, plus it's way cheaper so selling MB for this left me with a healthy dose of left over tickets.

I've only played a few games in the Tournament Practice Room so far, and 1 2-man vs GR Monsters (I won in 3 games).

I think we need our 8 1 drops vs. GR, the strategy I employed was to pressure them fast and hard and force them to deal with MY game plan rather than executing theirs. They can't use their Caryatids for mana when they need them to block 2 Cacklers.

Searing Blood seems sub par in the board so far, though. I know it's really good against other aggressive decks but we're already set up well against them and I want to try to find a card that's versatile: Good against aggro AND Monsters, or aggro AND MonoU. Any ideas?

[Tyrael]

vs Gr Monsters: -4 Shock (if on the play), -4 Magma Jet (if on the draw), +2 Doom Blade, +1 Dreadbore, +1 Ultimate Price. Burning a turn one Elvish Mystic is critical here so we want to keep our Shocks in if we're on the draw.

Can we discuss this? I've found that this is a deck where our best plan of attack actually isn't going to be burning off their elves, since we really don't beat them in the early game (they end it too quickly). Shock is really only good when it's Stone Rain (i.e. they've kept a sketchy hand).
I think I'd also prefer a game 2 plan where we don't have to
play 8 1-drops that can't play defense at all. I'm thinking that Shock and Magma Jet might actually be better than our 1-drops, since we can't expect our creatures to connect more than once against a deck where the only noncreature spells either get you more creatures, act as removal, or both.

Damn this list

I think it's good you cut down the chandra's as her 0 ability becomes more and more of a risk if you're upping the terrors count.

[rcwraspy]

I think it's good you cut down the chandra's as her 0 ability becomes more and more of a risk if you're upping the terrors count.

As a general statement that's certainly true, but let's break it down a bit.

This is a kind of list that will allow you to run only a couple terrors main deck and board more terrors for match-specific needs. That means you can stack your main deck with more burn, which certainly fits well with Chandra's 0 ability.

Post-board against a deck like G/r monsters, you're certainly bringing in more terror cards. The question becomes, what to do with Chandra? My untested theory is that you keep her as 2x in the list for these reasons.
1. Her +1 is relevant to recur your Phoenix as an infinite blocker
2. Her +1 is
relevant to swing through their fat by making something unable to block
3. Her 0 is actually relevant against a deck packed with large, fat, value creatures. If you flip a terror with her, you'll almost certainly have a target.
4. For those rare occasions where flipping a terror would have no target, you're likely ahead on board anyway and don't even need to 0.

And against a deck where you don't need terror effects, you can board them out or simply not bring them in. I think the only remaining issue is how to play it with Dreadbore in the main against UW/x control, but you either +1 or 0 depending on board state there as well - just like you did with Chained against Mono Black Devotion in the PyroWhite list.

[Helios]

Play the 1 drop. Every time.

Bless this post.

[Jasper]

Just got back from FNM. Took notes, and tried to follow Val's sideboarding recommendations as close as I could from memory. Also took notes during and after games.


Round 1 vs Graham, my cousin. Had a good laugh, since I practiced the deck against him the day before, and I knew his entire deck:

Game 1: He plays burn with Guttersnipe. I just removed his creatures and let [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card] peck him to death, with Chandra, Pyromaster making a late appearance.

Game 2: I mull to 6 and get land flooded. He does what his deck does, burn me down. I'm eventually left at 3 life, but all 4 of his Lightning Strikes are in the graveyard. Chandra and her pet makes a repeat showing for the win.

1-0

Round 2 vs Josh: He's playing green/black/white

Game 1: Good start, beating him down as his deck stumbles. He's eventually
sitting at 1 life. I have 3 turns to draw a burn spell or a Chandras Pheonix or Chandra herself. None come, he Gary's, and eventually beats me to death.

Game 2: I remember siding out the Firedrinker Satyrs and bringing in 4 Skullcrack and some more hate spells. My start is much slower, and he starts resolving Loxodon Smiters, Reaper of the Wilds. I use removal on them, and keep getting in with Ash Zealot. He eventually gets a Blood Baron of Vizkopa out and I burn/block with Ash Zealot. He just manages to get out more threats and gain life with Whip of Erebos.

1-1

Round 3 vs Daniel: Green/Black/White. I had played his deck before, but he didn't have Sylvan Caryatids yet last time.

Game 1: Both games are just stomps, we me on the losing end. Game 1 is just about Sylvan Caryatids that I can't remove, and a BBoV.

Game 2: More Sylvan Caryatids, and a resolved Obzedat Ghost Council. I never drew the Dark Betrayal, of which I was running 3. His deck had Obzedat, Archangel of Thune, Sylvan
Caryatids, Elspeth, and Courser of Kruphix. I don't see how I was supposed to win this matchup, but I'm still pretty new to MTG so there was probably a strategy I just didn't see. Too much life gain, ramp, and big threats that I couldn't answer.

1-2

Round 4 vs MBD: This was this guys first week playing, and he was using a friends deck. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Game 1: I am the beatdown. Game goes quick with him using removal on Phoenixes only for me to get them back.

Game 2: I lose to some 5/5 Pack Rats, lol.

Game 3: His opening hand has 1 land, and he never finds another while the Cacklers do work.

2-2

In summary, I went 2-2 for the 7th week in a row. BBoV and Ghost Dad are a huge pain in the ass. Part of the problem here is also that I very rarely had a Young Pyromancer stay out before he just ate a removal spell. Chandra's Phoenix is pretty much the only reason I won the other games, and Chandra was a good sign any game she showed up in. I really felt myself wishing I had
Mizzium Mortars a lot of the games. Ultimate Price seemed to not really be useful whenever I managed to draw it, but my LGS seems to be plagued by 3-color decks it seems. Shock was always more useful than expected, as was Dark Betrayal. Dreadbore was good, but Sorcery speed is a real bummer, and I never even saw an enemy play a Planeswalker. In the end, I'm not sure if I'm a super noob, or if I had unfavorable matchups. Part of it can be blamed on plain bad luck though, as YP$ seemed to be hiding most of the time, and when he did show his face, he attracted a lot of attention quickly to be removed.

Of note: I ran 73 of Val's 75, it seems I've lost 2 of my Ultimate Price, and no one else there had any. I ran +1 Chandra Pyromaster and +1 Dark Betrayal, given the prevalence of black in my meta. If I play this list again, I'll -1 Dbore and +1 another Dark Betrayal.

Not sure if I'll be playing this list tomorrow at the IQ or not.