Dies to Removal

So while I agreed with Alex and Z on control being mediocre, I was disinclined to believe it was horrible.

And now I'm on that bandwagon. I don't know how control players are placing well because the agro matchups seem horrendous. My first round opponent's plays:

Turn 1/2 durdle.

Turn 3 super durdle(divination).

4. Verdict

5. Verdict.

6 Elspeth.

The problem of course being opened up firedrinker>Ashley>hammer>Ashley, 2x cackler, Phoenix, Chandra for game.

The 1 douche esper player I beat played 1 verdict game one before he died and only won game 2 because I mulled to 5 and missed the 4th drop for burning earth, then lost game 3 because Chandra says blood baron doesn't get to stabilize you.

My last opponent, a cool esper player...I don't remember this match, so I assume he just rolled over and died. We talked for a while after the match and almost concluded that the agro matchup is bad
enough to warrant omen speaker and we both think the card is garbage. Then we came to the conclusion that returned pharenx(3/3 for 2, defender, pay 2 to swing) is straight up better and could become the tech that makes the matchup winnable if not good.

I THINK 3 Devotion red decks top 8'd along with naya mid, jund, esper, dega, and AIR(foundry street denizen red). The guy who won didn't lose a single game in the swiss before double drawing into top 8. I respectfully pointed out with the modified play draw rule, he should have played his 6th and drawn his seventh to give him the best possible seeding for playing in top 8, and we talked red decks a little bit while his dookie dega friend was bumming advice on cards to run. Me and the winner actually disagreed on a lot of stuff, but it was enjoyable discussing perspectives on what we where trying to do with our decks.

Overall, while I'm happy that I got to play and I top 16, I'm unhappy with how unprepared I was(I was buying cards on site, and was
still sleeving at the start of round one), and how my cold paired with procrastination led to a few sloppy plays and a misbuilt sideboard(the two mortars and a seismic stomp should have been 2 flames and act of treason/traitorous instinct).

Going forward, I think act of treason becomes traitorous instinct as everyone who I was chatting with was telling me they found the extra mana negligible. Additionally, I'm gonna play a fair amount of games vs. naya mid since I need to figure out how I want to board between play and draw and so I can adjust my board(which is probably good as is).

Props:

FoS for being full of awesome people and letting me talk ad nauseum about magic without feeling like a super gay.

My first round opponent for helping me sleeve before pairings went up not knowing he was about to get mushed and for being super cool about it despite being visibly tilted.

Gatorade. For being better then water.

Slops:

Germs. Fuck germs.

Mizzium mortars. WHile not bad, your boring
and we're all in on spicy stuff.

Welp, that's it for now, might do an actual detailed tourney report later but for now, this should suffice.

Awesome, we'll break it all down soon. Thanks for the detailed report!

Also, went 4-0 in another DE, bring today up to +$62. Not bad, not bad.

Props:
- new sideboard just wrecking douchebags. All I was playing was mono R and UW control; with a tiny amount if RG ramp, mono green, white weenie etc. so the board now looks like:

2 act of treason
4 Boros Reckoner
1 hammer of Purphorous
3 Mizzium mortars
1 Mutavault
4 skull crack

Reckoners is the best card in the mirror and vs. any green deck

Skull Crack obliterates UW control (it's overkill, but what the hell it's 40% of my matches it seems) and my poor Maze End opponent in round 3 >:)

Don't use that sideboard outside of MODO; it's just because if what I'm playing.

After playing ~10 hours today, I'm convinced UR is tier 1. Someone just needs to build it. If it can get better than 50% game 1 vs. esper and mono red you're good to go; everything else seems pretty manageable.

The following cards are currently insane:
- Frostburn Weird
- Chandra's Phoenix
- Young Pyromancer
- Magma Jet
- Counterflux
- Thoughtflare

You're weak to Reckoner (if you can't counter him) and Smiter G1. Then it's easy.

My opponent mulls to 5 on the play and I bait him into double overloaded mortars. Tears of unfathomable sadness.

:')

Seriously, Chandra reads 'untap, win the game'

What's he playing? You're not streaming right now are you?

I tested PyroRed against devotion red today, and it felt 60-40 pre-board with the maindeck flames, 50-50 otherwise. Every time I got a 2-for-1 with flames it was an auto win. But post-board after he boarded out all his x/1s the matchup felt 20-80. When I'm trying to grind him out with removal and a hammer, the combination of phoenix, reckoner, and stormbreath dragon means that almost every game we both end up in topdeck mode, where maybe I have a left over mutavault hitting him. Except he's at 16 life and I'm at 3. And I die to every single top deck ever. It doesn't feel realistic to fight reckoners without your own reckoners.

Yeah. I agree. Reckoner is BY FAR the best card in the matchup. Here's my current 75:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Legendary Artifacts
1 Hammer of Purphoros

Instants
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Sorceries
1 Flames of the Firebrand[/b]

Lands
20 Mountain
3 Mutavault

Sideboard
2 Act of Treason
4 Boros Reckoner
1 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mutavault
4 Skullcrack
[/deck]

Now, the Skullcracks are overkill. However, half my matches were UWx control, so I want it to be 80%+. You won't see that in paper, so you have room for other stuff instead.

Now, honestly, YP is feeling very
slightly underpowered. There are certainly games YP just completely takes over; but there are also games where it's just a 2/1. I think that without 16 spells, there just isn't quite enough to justify the card ~ I want something more consistent.

I'm open to -4 YP, -1 Flames of the Firebrand, +4 Boros Reckoner, +1 Mutavault. I don't know how this effects the control matchup (a 2/1 for 2 is probably slightly worse than a 3/3 for 3 there) and it would probably help the matchup with green and red decks.

So, with that in mind, maybe the Mogis deck is just better right now? Still, I did cash in two events and went 70%+ for wins; there are some ideas I want to try out before changing anything dramatically.

I do think RTs list with 24 land, Phoenix, Reckoner and Dragons is probably very good right now. The card advantage engineß in standard are awful, so just top decking really good cards is probably enough.

And another prerelease First match - Vs GB (1-2)
Game 1 - He shown me the power of the Gray Merchant. He then sealed the game with an Abhorrent Overlord.
Game 2 - I managed to beat him senseless with a great curve (Raider> Skullcleaver> Fanatic> Strombreath)
Game 3 - I got a Hammer out, but he countered with an Overlord. Managed to kill it, only for him to
land another to seal the game.
Conclusion from the match: With how transformable this pool is, maybe I should try either RW or RB.

Second match - Vs GBr (2-1)
Game 1 - I got greedy and got mana-screwed
Game 2 - Same thing happened, and I literally complained outright, telling the opponent to finish me off. Apparently he was having problem getting flooded, and I won by using Portent of Betrayal to enchant a fatties with two +1/+1 and add an Ordeal of Purphoros
Game 3 - He built a very fatties instead of going swarm tactics (Using bestow), and I won by using Portent of Betrayal
Conclusion from the match: Yeah, I think I'd better go RB with this event.

Third match - Vs GB (1-2(
Game 1 - I managed to rush him this game with a few Ember Swallower
Game 2 - All is fine until he landed an [card]Abhorrent Overlord[/card:
25y6j5jw]
Game 3 - He managed to exile my Hammer with Fade to Antiquity and sealed the game again with Abhorrent Overlord.
Conclusion from the match: Damn, that overlord is insane. It might be bad in constructed, but it's a 5-star in sealed.

Fourth match - Vs GB (0-2(
Game 1 & 2 - See below.
Conclusion from the match: I wonder, if I just suck in this whole sealed game?

New loot
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Firedrinker Satyr
1 Stormbreath Dragon (Most probably selling this one, maybe to get a Chandra)

I think I'm gonna use Act of Treason for Devotion Matchup.
Gonna burn your creatures.
You're gonna drop Reckoner.
Take him, swing for 3, sacc to Barrage.
WP.

Edit:
I'm also thinking about selling Chandras, saying "fuck RDW" and going for UR Control. Hey, it just responds with what I love to play... and it gets to play all the sweet cards.
Hope I'll be able to earn enough of tixes to buy everything I need for UR. Selling Chandras would be a bit of suicide.

Finally got everything together on MODO after scavenging/begging/and paying too much for some Theros cards (not to mention 60 tix on 3 Chandra) but have been tearing shit up. My list is almost the same as Z's. Main it's -1 Muta +1 Flames and side is -Mortars +Burning Earth.

Haven't had time for any daily events or 8 mans because they weren't at all close to firing but hit up the 2 mans.

Currently 5-1 in matches.

Only match I've dropped was to a junk deck that managed turn 3 Smiter/Turn 4 Demon/Turn 5 Gray Merchant (black devotion drain dude)/Turn 6 Merchant/Turn 7 Obzedat in game 2 then I got flooded hardcore in game 3.

Have beaten other red decks 3 times (devotion twice), Gruul, and a MazeFog deck.


YP has actually been sick for me and I wouldn't want to trade him for reck atm, but Z has many more games under his belt.

Either way I'm quite happy to be up 15 tickets in the ~2 hours of games I rocked.

Great man, any other notes?

Ill be sticking with YP$ for a while, I think the card is great still. Maybe I just ran slightly under average for draws today, it happens.

In the 7 matches I've played (I'm on right now Just beat another "mirror") I've drawn two mutas way early 3 times. Not going up to three any time soon

Other than that, nope. 2 man queues seem to be full o' baddies atm.

Oh and Chandra+her pheonxi=infy chump blockers for mono green

Every time I hear someone say Chandra's +1 is bad I know they're a scrub. The amount if times it's been draw 2 or falter for lethal...

Can you throw up your 75 when you get a chance, I'm very open to suggestion.

How bad is it that I'm cracking the sads after cashing in two events m?

You probably had a bad run with YP. I was running him before rotation in a deck with 14 instants and sorceries and on the whole he was great once I learned to be more aggressive with him.

Twitch says I have a codec issue, will record locally then upload later.

Seriously, this is getting fucking old.

Did they say what exactly was causing it though? Or just "We don't know what's wrong exactly but it's probably this vague thing that troubleshoots all problems because we don't give a shit?"

Update all of your drivers, and maybe get VLC Media Player and have it update all of your Codecs for you. (Since it does this automatically upon installation.)

Will do. We should try for a commentated DE late this week, you can point out my
many misplays.

Sure, whenever. I am going to record some short speeches I've been working on a little later (probably Wednesday) this week so you can point out moronic things I say in those while we do that.

Damn I havent' been able to get the shit on MTGO to play, so I'll just settle for playing local until official release online.

Also, things went south relationship wise for me. I've been real busy and haven't been able to make time for her besides texting, and she couldn't accept that. The lady and I talked and we decided there was no way to salvage what we had left, so we should just end it before anyone said anything they'd regret. I blame myself for starting this situation (for those that tuned in before) but she sure as hell didn't help fix it.

I felt shitty about it, blamed myself, then drank some whiskey was feeling fine again. Still feeling fine actually, even after it wore off. I'm sure it'll hit me later though. There's no way an almost 2 year
relationship ending wouldn't effect me.

Sorry to hear that, my friend. School can be rough on relationships.

Ewwwww G/W just won the SCG Open

Also I think once you add Reckoner into a list...you might as well add Mogis, card is nuts.

has anyone any idea about the price of stormbreath dragon?

i kinda want to play him currently, but im not sure if he is worth 20€....
do you guys think too, that he will drop soon?
or do you think he will remain at around 20€+?

In PyroRed, what does anyone think of Nivmagus Elemental in place of Firedrinker against the big green?

Exiling one Shock to it allows it to trade with Kalonian Tusker and leave behind a 3/4 creature. Or we could just go with Frostburn Weird main in place of Firedrinker, but that leaves us with just Cackler and Shock as turn one plays.

Edit: I doubt that the Dragon is going to drop anytime soon. Red is typically at its most powerful right after rotation, so people are picking them up.

You MTGO guys,

How much would it cost me to get up and running with red? Just a ballpark idea

With or without the Chandras?

If you made a Mogis deck, it'd be very cheap. I think the most expensive card would be Reckoners.

has anyone any idea about the price of stormbreath dragon?

i kinda want to play him currently, but im not sure if he is worth 20€....
do you guys think too, that he will drop soon?
or do you think he will remain at around 20€+?

I just sold mine for 24 tix. I'd wager that he will have a presence just like his thundermaw brother. Guess we will need to see how big is white in next meta to decide his significance.

@dpaine: $50 without Chandra, maybe. Ashley is currently 2 tix each, and there's Boros Bull for 8 each. Add along others relevant most sought cards like Magma Jet, Fanatic of Mogis and Lightning Strike

What's the Mogis up to? I think in the next day or two, I'll be buying all the Theros stuff for MTGO and start hammering things out. Unfortunately for me, I will not be buying Chandra's right now at their current price. Buying them on paper was enough once.

Fortunately, Mogis is a cheaper deck, doesn't need Chandra maindeck, and doesn't require Mutavaults. So I suppose I already have a good base to start grinding with.

has anyone any idea about the price of stormbreath dragon?

i kinda want to play him currently, but im not sure if he is worth 20€....
do you guys think too, that he will drop soon?
or do you think he will remain at around 20€+?

since G/W apparently won the SCG open, and stormbreath is incredibly hard for them to deal with (if you deal with their unflinching courages), I'd say he won't drop any time soon. The meta needs to settle a bit more and Black based control decks need to take over

green decks with nylea disciple makes fanatic decks look silly though, and I bet those are gonna pop up online since the mono green deck is relatively cheap (besides oozes, mutavaults, and garruk I guess)

Well, if that's going to be a problem, we can always put in Skullcrack. [card]Nylea's Disciple[/card] looks like an overcosted Centaur Healer for me.

My last opponent, a cool esper player...I don't remember this match, so I assume he just rolled over and died. We talked for a while after the match and almost concluded that the agro matchup is bad enough to warrant omen speaker and we both think the card is garbage. Then we came to the conclusion that returned pharenx(3/3 for 2, defender, pay 2 to swing) is straight up better and could become the tech that makes the matchup winnable if not good.

I like omenspeaker I think its part of what makes the UW master of waves deck so consistent.

People hate on him "he's not augur"

yeah and fanatic of mogis isnt fucking hellrider, BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN HES NOT GOOD NOW

scry 2 to hit land drops for verdict (especially in
esper who cant hit double white for shit) is important

Well, if that's going to be a problem, we can always put in Skullcrack. [card]Nylea's Disciple[/card] looks like an overcosted Centaur Healer for me.

Except if you have skullcracks you either
1. arent killing their early dudes
2. arent applying enough pressure to set up a fanatic finisher.

Mono green is really tough matchup with all the early plays they can match mono red with. I think it was windstrider or someone who said their friend was workin on a sweet Mono green brew that was very unbeatable? I'd imagine it was similar to the ones that placed recently.

Gyre sage into BTE+Tusker is legit. Reverent hunter is no slouch too if you dont keep up with their
cards with burn (and you actually cant if they are playing BTE too)

I played my Izzet list against a few of those decks that won SCG last night. They actually just can't beat Weapon Surge if you swing out. They HAVE to block because Fanatic of Mogis is usually close to killing them by itself on a clogged board, and they are usually matched evenly with your creatures for p/t.

I ended up playing Weapon Surge instead of Dynacharge in the board because of that matchup specifically.

Well, if that's going to be a problem, we can always put in Skullcrack. [card]Nylea's Disciple[/card] looks like an overcosted Centaur Healer for me.

Except if you have skullcracks you either
1. arent killing their early dudes
2. arent applying enough pressure to set up a fanatic finisher.

Mono green is really tough matchup with all the early plays they can match mono red with. I think it was windstrider or someone who said their friend was workin on a sweet Mono green brew that was very unbeatable? I'd
imagine it was similar to the ones that placed recently.

Gyre sage into BTE+Tusker is legit. Reverent hunter is no slouch too if you dont keep up with their cards with burn (and you actually cant if they are playing BTE too)

Not mine. I did face a MonoGreen deck at FNM using PyroRed. Lots of removal plus Phoenix and Chandra helped me through that matchup.

In PyroRed, what does anyone think of Nivmagus Elemental in place of Firedrinker against the big green?

Exiling one Shock to it allows it to trade with Kalonian Tusker and leave behind a 3/4 creature. Or we could just go with Frostburn Weird main in place of Firedrinker, but that leaves us with just Cackler and Shock as turn one plays.

Edit: I doubt that the Dragon is going to drop anytime soon. Red is typically at its most powerful right after rotation, so people are picking them up.

I'm actually playing two Legion Loyalist and two Frostburn Weird maindeck in place of Satyr in PyroRed today.

Player meetings start now. Wish me luck!

In PyroRed, what does anyone think of Nivmagus Elemental in place of Firedrinker against the big green?

Exiling one Shock to it allows it to trade with Kalonian Tusker and leave behind a 3/4 creature. Or we could just go with Frostburn Weird main in place of Firedrinker, but that leaves us with just Cackler and Shock as turn one plays.

Edit: I doubt that the Dragon is going to drop anytime soon. Red is typically at its most powerful right after rotation, so people are picking them up.

Unless Green starts packing on deathtouch, that sounds like a great idea. Niv's problem is the fear of getting itself 2-1'd, so against a color without much removal, it's rather feasible to make all your spells into [card:
2tvyqnga]Giant Strength[/card].

This Mono Red list got 6th at the SCG event. It makes me want to cry. And then punch a baby.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=59717


Grixis Pyromancer. *swoon*

http://www.starcitygames.com/events/cov ... er_wi.html

I'm just glad somebody is trying it.

Grixis mancer is cute but doesn't seem good. I CRUSHED a dude playing it, but then again, he was a mediocre player so meh.

The idea is tities though.

The idea is tities though.

Titty sprinkles.