Dies to Removal

There seems to be a theme here...I went 3-2 last night as well, running Aristocrats "1.5" (I brought KoI back in place of High Priest with the expectation of more white and to get back the useful Exalted damage). The meta at the shop is really screwy right now because a portion of the "serious" players are doing Modern FNM in prep for our upcoming GP; thus, the range of decks is much less predictable, and to be honest, a little more fun.

I took round 1 against a guy playing Rakdos Aggro (I cannot bring myself to call it Dos Rakis because he wasn't running Aristocrat...); we talked about the power of FA after he dealt with it blowing him out. He also fell to the first of a few "13 you"'s of the night as Blasphemous Act and Reckoner did their dance. Second round...ugh. BUG Superfriends Control...game 1 almost got there but then he stabilized and hit Aetherling on top of Tamiyo ulti. Game 2...
frustration; he got Jace out and while I had a whole field of creatures most were not capable of swinging for damage over +1's. I hit 3 Reckoners but no Act and never saw the Dreadbores I sided in. At the point where he had Jace, Lili, Garruk and Aetherling all on the field, I scooped. Ouch! Round 3 I should have won but got anxious and stupid; played Reanimator and had him game one but overextended my sac plan when I though I had him only to have him flash Resto in to hit Tusk for the save. I tilted at that point and blew the game. It was an epic match, however; I took game 2 (FA over top for 5 into "13 you" and wait as he processed what just happened). Game 3 was back and forth but he topdecked a saving Tusk. We figured up that throughout the match he gained at least 80 life if not more, and only stayed alive by doing so. It was honestly the most fun of the night despite the loss. Round 4 wasn't really fair...I played against my son and I know him and his deck too well. He and his
Gruul Aggro pushed in close both games, but he still didn't see the around-the-corner kills before they had him (Blood Artist really isn't fair on a locked field when you have a sac outlet or a sweeper). Round 5 was a walk against a homebrew RG that I could see fishbowling fast wins but was too easily chumped. Swing in with FA, cast Souls, flashback Souls, sac everything with Artist out FTW.

Overall, a fun night; I was just glad to finally make it back out to get some play time in, and Aristocrats is an incredible deck for making oneself focus on play. I need to think on what to do about planeswalkers and Aetherling as they both seemed a lot more prevalent in the room than Voice (I saw five decks playing Aetherling out of 32, so it obviously will come up again); I know the best plan is to kill the opponent before he comes down, but between he and planeswalkers I might try Pithing Needle in the side as I never sided in the Pillars I was packing for Voice and other aggro.

Eyerolls of the night:

-
A guy who had purchased a full case of MM jumping up and down and screaming when he hit a foil goyf. Definitely worth celebrating, but this is a guy who is all about getting/hoarding, plays and who is always pithy with young kids who make mistakes but still end up beating him because he tilts in a stiff breeze. Plus, I was worried that we were going to have to call paramedics because he makes me look like a stick figure and turned so red that I thought he was going to infarct on the spot.

-Hearing some guy who obviously follows us either here or on Sally say that he was playing "Dos Rakdos" and sounding like he'd come up with something clever.

Dos Rakdos? The facepalming cannot start soon enough.

I'm going to do a 2 PM PST standard daily stream (30 minutes from now). Stream team is welcome!

Took 2nd at FNM last night going 3-1 with Golgari Control. Will post details in my primer on competitive page later tonight. Walked all over Naya Midrange, UWR Midrange, and Gruul Aggro, lost to UWR Flash Control.

-Hearing some guy who obviously follows us either here or on Sally say that he was playing "Dos Rakdos" and sounding like he'd come up with something clever.

If you're going to steal something and pretend it's yours at least have the decency to call it by the correct name

fucker

I got knocked out in Top 4 at the Miami GPT. So sad.... I really wanted those BYEs. 'Murica Control, how I hate thee. On the bright side, I lost to a player that I highly respect so it's not like I was dreamcrushed by a scrub. Another plus - apparently, word has spread around my area that I'm truly a force to be reckoned with when I have a Mono Red Deck in my hands. Even in those rare times when I do lose, I have people sweating it out and thinking really hard. I don't consider myself that a great of a player, but it feels really good to hear these things at a FNM in one city and at a GPT in another.

Today, my Boros deck got freakin' owned by Mana. I lost every game in the tournament. It was really one for the ages. I need some hot butts to cheer me up.

YOLOs Reckoner

YOLOs Reckoner

That stupid Reckoner became my downfall today. He was all YOLO, SwAg DaWg! And I lost.

I think he puts Swagtusk to shame

Give me YOLO Reckoner or give me death!

That's amazing.

Working on BUG immortal servitude again to stave off boredom.

I'm working on using Exava Rakdos Blood Witch with Liliana of the Dark Realms. I will figure out something fun to do with them for next weeks FNM.

That's amazing.

Working on BUG immortal servitude again to stave off boredom.

That deck is hella fun, Z. My buddy runs it. It took us awhile to figure it out from looking at a list, but it's really great. Kinda like an aggro/combo deck. So much fun.

Mind throwing up a list, I've had a few different takes (different creature density, more or less spells etc).

Mind throwing up a list, I've had a few different takes (different creature density, more or less spells etc).

my bad, I read your post so fast that I thought you meant Junk Immortal Servitude. Anyways, here's my buddy's Junk list. We've not tested any BUG lists yet. Actually, my friend has decided he wants to try Junk Aristocrats at this point.

[deck]
Land (23)
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 gavony township
4 godless shrine
3 woodland cemetery
4 sunpetal grove
4 overgrown tomb
4 temple garden
2 isolated chapel

Spells (13)
2 tragic slip
3 immortal servitude
4 lingering souls
4 grisly salvage

Creatures (24)
4 blood artist
4 cartel aristocrat
2 deathrite shaman
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 strangleroot geist
3 elvish
visionary
3 skirsdag high priest[/deck]

And now, some words from my friend: "As a side note, I'd say that your board is meta specific, especially with this deck above others. Also, an idea i was toying with was adding two snapcasters and an extra deathrite shaman to make the deck more combo oriented. Giving you more options off of grisly salvage and not having to worry about possibly milling out a servitude which is a depressing sight indeed."

I wish I had the money to run Junk right now. It's so much fun, but god damn, it's some pricey stuff.

you have to go deeper with Immortal Servitude combo.


Bloodthrone vampire, Black cat, Faith's reward, all the good stuffs.

(thats junk though, been awhile since I saw a BUg list but I think I remember one on the Magic Forums)

I'm going to do a 2 PM PST standard daily stream (30 minutes from now). Stream team is welcome!

Stop streaming while I'm at work.

Speaking of work, literally spent half an hour trying to convince a rather indignant, stupid female that all of our Chai, and most Chai in the world, indeed contains Cinnamon. But it simply could not be possible because apparently she loathes Cinnamon yet loved the Chai sample. I then proceeded to pour her a sample of "Cinnamon" tea(it was really the Chai she just tried and liked) and told her to try it. She cringed and proclaimed to hate it, as I assumed she would. She was not happy to hear I tricked her, and I suppose it wasn't very kind of me, but I was quite satisfied with myself afterword.

Some fucking people.

People are the worst.

I am ashamed to be a people.

I am ashamed to be a people.

You are a multiple being?!?

I am ashamed to be a people.

You are a multiple being?!?

I am you, and you are I.

How'd the stream go Ham? Wish I was awake for it. Been a long time since I've watched a good stream.

Speaking of work, literally spent half an hour trying to convince a rather indignant, stupid female that all of our Chai, and most Chai in the world, indeed contains Cinnamon. But it simply could not be possible because apparently she loathes Cinnamon yet loved the Chai sample. I then proceeded to pour her a sample of "Cinnamon" tea(it was really the Chai she just tried and liked) and told her to try it. She cringed and proclaimed to hate it, as I assumed she would. She was not happy to hear I tricked her, and I suppose it wasn't very kind of me, but I was quite satisfied with myself afterword.

Some fucking people.

The nerve of that cunt...

I hated working in retail. Never again.

Binge played magic this weekend. 2-1 in draft at FNM playing janky boros, followed by a couple MM drafts this weekend.

After FNM, went my buddies' house(3 people I play FNM with) and finished 3rd in a MM draft with a pretty sick Azorius artifact deck. Apparently 14 lands are enough. Lost to American control where the guy kept blinking his mulldrifter with flickerwisp and would kill me with meloku tokens after evoking meadown. My teammate codenamed "Young Wolf" avenged me with his mono-green domain deck after winning back to back games with tromp the domains. After the tourney, we played a match for 5 bucks store credit where I stomped him court homunculous and recurring aether spellbombs. Double Etherium sculptor, multiple sanctum gargoyles, auriok salvagers, double faerie mechanist and double aether spellbomb forms quite the engine.

Second MM draft today, I played rakdos goblins and destroyed everyone dropping
exactly one game in the finals that I could have won if I played slightly better. Mad auntie? More like Mad Value. Most of my games where won on the back of a mad auntie and 6-10 goblin tokens. Marsh flitter, mogg war marshel, warren pilferers, empty the warrens, lots of red removal, slaughter pact, skeletal vampire, and triple lava spike did work. My deck was so good, I had to cut horobis whisper which is among the best unconditional removal spells in the set.

I was really happy with this weekend. Hope everyone else's went fine.

I was thinking today... I bet we will have Lightning Bolt / Thunderbolt / some kind of Zeus's Bolt variant in Theros. Just a thought.

Played some UB control in legacy; JtMS is a fair card....not.

Otherwise, went to the football with some mates. Spent today keeping wolf-girl company (bad cold, made her lunch and watched One Piece).

That swagtusk poster is amazing, actually makes me regret the card is rotating.

Yeah, I too have made my peace with the beast. I no longer fear it, hate it, or get mad at it. It just is. Playing in a format with it for over a year has made me get used to its presence. It's hard to imagine a Standard without it now.

Yeah, I too have made my peace with the beast. I no longer fear it, hate it, or get mad at it. It just is. Playing in a format with it for over a year has made me get used to its presence. It's hard to imagine a Standard without it now.

I'm sure we'll get used to it.

I'll be more than happy when the big fat pig rotates out.

How will we know who has swag though

more swagtusk = more swag = more skill

There will still be YOLO Reckoner though. We will certainly still know who only has 1 life.

God damn that reckoner.......








So beautiful

Played some UB control in legacy; JtMS is a fair card....not.

Otherwise, went to the football with some mates. Spent today keeping wolf-girl company (bad cold, made her lunch and watched One Piece).

What was your list? I play UB a LOT. Its my go-to when I don't want to play Stoneblade.

Mostly because I love Cabal Therapy and Thoughtseize, though.

How'd the stream go Ham? Wish I was awake for it. Been a long time since I've watched a good stream.

Johnny:

I went 3-1, losing in round 3 to a Naya Blitz deck with 2 Boros Reckoners in hand while praying for the 3rd land drop. Didn't ever find it.